The Random Digressors

New Year Again?

2011-01-03T17:56:00.000-05:00

Another year come and gone... Here are my previously unfinished New Year's "goals" from previous years.

Long-term Goals for the year 2009:
Find some way of earning income. (I have 12 piano students now, which is providing enough for me to pay for my own piano lessons, voice lessons, and theatre and dance classes. But I would like to find something that I can do on my own time... I know, I'm too picky.)

One-time projects:
Get my bookcases organized and neat. (I got closer to done, but still not as thorough as I intended to.)

So, for 2010, my goals were:

Long-term:

Better sleep schedule (check!)
Improve cooking (check!)
Improve singing (check!)
Improve general house cleanliness (Um... not so much. Although it's pretty clean right now!)

One-time projects:
Clean off bookcase (getting there)
Make a layered cake (nope)
Make Regency dress (I cut out... some of it...)

Now for 2011 goals:
Long-term:
Seriously begin cookbook recipe collection and rating.
Improve my money-management and business skills.
Keep working on helping keep the house more neat.
Keep thinking and looking for other job possibilities.

One-time projects:
FINALLY FINISH the bookcase
Finish the Regency dress

Happy New Year!

Libraries, and How They Work

2010-12-08T17:45:00.001-05:00

For the average person: Library use is simple. Once a week, or maybe once every two weeks if you’re a remarkably slow reader, you go to the library and get the next poorly written, ½ inch thick novel of your chosen genre. Perhaps a slimy romance, action flick or sci-fi, it really doesn’t matter. You read it (amazingly enough, since an American who doesn’t watch TV in every spare moment is rare) and return it in a timely manner. No pesky announcements about how much money you currently owe to the poor library system when you try to check out your next cheap novel masquerading as literature. No sheepish feeling as you realize that you kept a copy of one of the most ridiculously over-used plot-lines past your allotted three weeks and probably deprived 2 other people of the mind-numbing blandness contained in those tortured pages. Lighthearted and carefree, you skip home to enjoy your next piece of cotton-candy reading.

For the serious reader: Library use is difficult. First of all, they don’t have half of the books you want to read at your branch, and you have to request them. Once your book of real literature written before the days of TV and dumbed down Americans arrives, you take it home and dive in. The only problem is, no matter how fast a reader you are, you really can’t finish an unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo in less than three weeks, unless you have absolutely nothing better to do than read all day long. So the appointed due date arrives, and you try to take advantage of this convenience called “renewal.”

Can I side track for a moment? Why do they give you a due date and fines if you’re also allowed to just renew the book? Think about that as I proceed.

So you’re trying to renew your book. Since you can do that from the comfort of your own home on the internet, you take a moment from reading your wonderful piece of intelligent literature to utilize the library website. But once you click the “renew” button, you get a little red sentence announcing that you can’t renew your book because someone else has requested it! Unlike the average reader of average intelligence might, you don’t sigh and resign yourself to going to the library to return the book before you finish reading it. You resolve to finish as soon as possible, but fines or no fines, you will finish the book. After all, you can’t give up what must be the only library copy of this great work of fiction before you’ve devoured every well-phrased sentence and breathed a sigh of contentment at the satisfactory ending. Somewhere around a dollar into your fine, you start wondering how much you’re going to have to pay. So you get back onto the library website and look up the book in the handy-dandy library catalog. When you check the number of requests, and how many copies of the book are available in the system, you see that there are actually 5 checked in copies of THE EXACT SAME BOOK available to be shipped anywhere that’s desired, and you call the library to complain. “Oh, yes,” the librarian calmly informs you, “the computer program does that for some reason. If you try to renew it now, it will work.” “Great,” you say, “then can you forgive my fine?” “No, I’m sorry,” the librarian says, “I can’t do that.” You bite your tongue, hang up politely and decide that it’s worth it to buy every single piece of literature that you ever want to read in the future. And when you finally finish The Count of Monte Cristo, you go buy a copy of it, because it was just that good.

The Epilogue

2010-10-28T19:28:00.001-04:00

The inspiration of a new vacuum was all I needed to motivate me to find the carpet in our room again, and now, with a mostly tidy room and newly vacuumed floors, I can say definitely that the new vacuum is nice. It's made a few finicky noises when I ran into pieces of furniture a little too forcefully, but it recovers quickly and apparently suffers no ill effects. The extension wand for attachments is a little complicated, but allows for good variety: a nice long extension wand for reaching ceiling fans and out-of-reach corners, or a short little wand for "dusting" type uses. Emptying the receptacle is easy, and so much nicer than having to replace bags! It's very quiet for a motorized machine, and it's amazing how much dust it's able to whip out of the carpet with the "wind tunnel" effect that Dyson employs. I think this will be a long and beautiful relationship... hopefully, a happily-ever-after!

(Haha!)

The End.

A New Beginning

2010-10-16T23:34:00.001-04:00

Some very old, faithful readers who diligently read all of my lengthy posts from "way back when" may remember my difficulties with vacuums. There are actually three posts about it, which I will obligingly link to, under the delightful illusion that anyone might actually want to read these old posts from the "archives."

Prologue
First chapter
Second chapter

I am happy to announce in this Third chapter that The Vacuum of Sauron has officially been replaced. Finally. And Sarah will not be allowed to name it. Hopefully, it will remain blissfully nameless, and therefore have no "character" to be flawed, thus enabling it to clean sufficiently with no issues.

It's a Dyson, although not a Dyson "Ball" vacuum (those are so expensive just for the convenience of more range of motion!) and I hope will be a vast improvement over my past Hoover vacuum. It doesn't use bags, so already it's better. An improvement would likely mean that there would be no more posts about vacuums, as I have a tendency to blog about exasperating things and enjoy all the convenient and happy parts of my life in bloggy silence... but should it turn about to be an amazing vacuum, I will probably write something in glowing praise, which will be a satisfying epilogue to this trilogy.

Life in general...

2010-09-18T22:04:00.003-04:00

I haven't had much time for lengthy blog posts... it seems that short little things on Facebook get more response anyway. ;) But, even if it's just for myself, I like to keep some track of what's going on in my life. So, on my plate for this year:

-Teaching my 12 piano students
-Taking piano and voice myself
-Theatre and broadway dance
-Swimming

Some of my goals are to continue to improve my cooking, and thriftiness. To help with my money management and budgeting, I'm paying for all of my activities, buying my dad's car from him (and he's looking for a "new" car) and paying for my own personal spending from my own earnings. If I can't pay for it, I can't afford it.

I'm still trying to go to bed earlier, and get up earlier. I've also been trying to get up early enough to have a Bible study time in the morning. Abigail wrote an inspiring post about the importance of starting the day just a few days after I'd been feeling that waiting until the evening wasn't a good idea for me, and that gave me the extra nudge I needed. I can't get up and instantly start reading though, so I give myself some time to wake up so I can devote my attention to reading and prayer.

It feels weird being in something of an in-between phase; since I've graduated from high school, but am not planning on going to college. I am apprenticing with my piano teacher, learning as much as I can about teaching, and teaching my own students, focusing on some home-making skills for the future if I get married and continuing my interest in theatre arts, plus widening my musical attempts into voice. And I'm even trying to include some higher level "school" type study in. I'm excited, but also a little intimidated, since this is the first time in my life that I haven't had an "end" in sight: like the end of high school. There is no longer any sort of time-line that I can see. Suddenly, life feels bigger and more adventuresome.

~Lizzie

This too, shall pass...

2010-08-04T00:20:00.000-04:00

So far this year that has been coming up a lot in my thoughts. As my senior year, and the senior year of many of my friends, I've been realizing that a lot of changes are coming. It's a feeling of dread and premonition, but also of excitement and mystery. It's sad, because I can never go back, but also happy, because I am moving forward into the future with hopeful prospects.

I've been trying to enjoy every "last" moment, like my last swim meet on a team with my siblings. Actually, swimming has mostly been my only "lasts" because other than aging out, my life isn't changing much. It just feels like it is. And that's what I think has called my notice to the thought: that this moment will eventually be gone. In the day to day, something as simple as laughing with my siblings over something funny or watching a beautiful sunset while taking a family stroll down our dirt road, I'll suddenly be struck with the thought that life will not always be like this. We're growing up, getting older and changing. Eventually, we will move out, get married, have kids ourselves and eventually die. And that, for us as Christians, is only the beginning, so I won't get all depressing here.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this year has taught me to enjoy every second to the fullest. This moment will never be here again. If you knew that you had one chance to try the most decadent and delicious dessert ever; that you would get only one bite, and you'd have to live with that taste of it as your only experience of that dessert for the rest of your life, imagine how you would savor it. Now imagine every moment of your life is a new and delicious dessert, and you only get one taste. Enjoy.

My View of Adulthood

2010-06-19T12:30:00.000-04:00

As a child, I thought there were three kinds of adults. The bad kind (the sort of bad grown-ups that went to prison for stealing and stuff like that), the good kind (like the Wal-Mart sticker greeters and other adults that I didn't know) and the really good kind (like my parents and their friends). I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the really good kind of adult never did wrong. If they were angry it was justly over someone else's wrong. They were completely selfless, always knew the right answer and never failed to punish me when I'd done something wrong.

Imagine my shock when I grew older and realized that there were many more wrong things that could be done than the ones I knew. There were lots of things you could do even accidentally that would make other people hurt or angry with you. The subtleties of manipulation, insults and exclusion that I began to understand were mind-blowing; almost as much as the fact that "really good" adults actually committed these wrongs. Now, as a young teenager growing toward adulthood, my view of adults had changed. I was planning on becoming the "really good" kind of adult that never did anything wrong; now that kind of adult doesn't exist. Suddenly, adulthood wasn't an arrival where you instantaneously become the kind of adult you were raised to be, but merely an extension of childhood where you are bigger and more grown-up, but still struggle with doing wrong. Eventually, you are no longer under your parents authority and are responsible for making yourself do right... and if you should happen to do something really wrong, then the police would put you in jail.

Even at 19, some of my childhood ideals are still being crushed by the pettiness of most of the adults in this world; yes, even the ones that my childhood self would have considered "really good." But all this only serves to remind me that God is the fulfillment of all my ideals of the perfect "adult." In childhood, your parent serves as the "all-knowing" governing authority; in adulthood, God is the one who reminds you to apologize for your wrongs, and loves you as His child, even through all your disobedience and childish tantrums.

NCHE Convention and Graduation... AND Sarah's birthday!

2010-06-03T10:26:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a weekend! We had a great time.

This is our lovely hotel room at the Brookstown Inn. It is a renovated cotton mill from the 1800's. Our room was very spacious, clean and homey, and really really comfortable. I love the wood beams in the ceiling and the old brick walls. Many people at the conference like to stay at the hotels right at the conference building. Those hotels are harder to get though, and we don't mind the 4-5 block walk to the convention center. And personally, I enjoy the rustic simplicity and cheerful southern comfort feel of our favorite hotel much better than the new, plastic, cookie-cutter large-corporation feel of most hotels.

Sarah and I experienced swing dancing for the first time at the Teen Cotillion the evening of the first conference day. It was a LOT of fun! None of the speaker sessions were mind-blowing fantastic, but they did give me some things to think about and some mild inspiration.

Mainly I was blessed to have the theme of all the sessions serve to give me more confidence in my choice to pursue my interests at home, and outside the corporate realm of college. The speakers for teens emphasized living your life for God, and that the important thing isn't whether you make a lot of money or not, but that you do everything for the glory of God.

The graduation Saturday was nice. I was wavering on whether or not I wanted to do it, because it just seems so pointless, but I finally decided that the opportunity for regret was less if I just went ahead and did the graduation. If I hated it, I would get over it, but if I later began to regret not doing it, then I could possibly feel regret for the rest of my life. I'm very glad I decided to go through with it, because I really enjoyed it, and it was a decided end to high school. I'm finished!!

My graduation happened to be exactly on Sarah's birthday, so afterward, we went out to eat. Sarah and I both wanted to go to the Mellow Mushroom, and there was one right across the street. We walked down there, and discovered that there was a two HOUR wait for our party of 14. This was at 6pm. So we decided with the M's and B's, that since we were all packed up and checked out of our hotels already, that we would drive to Greensboro and eat at the Mellow Mushroom there, since it was on the way home. In Greensboro there was a 30 minute wait, but we lost the B's; they got a little lost and ended up at a Mellow Mushroom in Burlington. They called to tell us to go ahead and eat without them, and that they would just eat there and compare food with us, but we decided to drive on to Burlington and eat with them. So finally, we all ate. At 8:30pm. It was really fun, the perfect end to a great weekend.

Mayhap the Randomness will resume...

2010-05-20T23:12:00.001-04:00

I stopped posting to The Random Digressors mostly because I felt like I was running out of things to share with any readers, and because it felt lonely without Sarah posting... I'm not going to change the name, but I will probably be the only one posting.

Anyway, this is just another short post to announce that my random thoughts will be here, but with a different theme. My new blog will be more focused, but I will continue randomness here. Mostly because I can tell a difference in my writing style without the regular practice at writing what I'm thinking...

So read if you want, but it will be the same random (probably boring) themes as before...

I was not looking forward to the lap-a-thon this year. As a super-senior, this is my last official year (meaning the last year that I "have" to swim the lap-a-thon) and I didn't think about that much until a few days prior to the lap-a-thon. Then I looked forward to it even less because I realized that I should have trained some and tried to achieve a particular number of laps (since this will probably be my most successful year of swimming...). But I was unprepared, and I only made 152. I swam on Wednesday, while my siblings all swam it on Tuesday (Tuesday was long course, and I hate swimming the lap-a-thon long course!) so I knew that Joel and David had both done 154, and I hoped to tie. Missing that by two laps was very disappointing. But I did improve by about 10 laps (I can't remember how many I did last year, and there appears to be no blog post on the subject...).

We're performing "The Wiz" two weeks from tomorrow. ACK!! I am NOT READY! Oh, why are we never prepared?? Thankfully, I don't have any lines. I didn't audition for a speaking role, for several reasons: they all had songs that I didn't like (and therefore didn't want to attempt to sing), I didn't want to memorize a lot of lines and I thought it would be less stressful to "just" do all the dances and chorus songs. Wrong. It's crazy. But I do think it will be more fun than trying to pull together a bigger role last minute. Which it seems that everything in theatre is always last minute.

Looking forward to summer swimming starting (except I'm NOT IN THE SHAPE I WANTED TO BE IN!) for my last summer season...

And we saw Wicked! BEST PLAY EVER.

And now you're caught up on my life.
~Lizzie

Announcing a New Blogging Venture

2010-03-22T15:42:00.002-04:00

I am striking out on my own with a new blog that focused more in the same direction as my life. My interest in being a Random Digressor has waned, as has Sarah's, apparently. If my interest in blogging is revived by posting on my new blog, I may still do some random posts here, but as it is, I don't know how often I will post on my new blog.

Anyway, and without further ado, introducing: the Hopeful Aspiring Homemaker. I will be sharing projects, ideas, recipes and anything else I find interesting or inspiring in my journey towards my "hopeful" future of being a wife and mother. I hope any readers who still remember The Random Digressors will find it an acceptable substitute. ;-)

So long for now, and perhaps the Random Digressors will be back sometime in the future...

The End of 2009

2009-12-27T19:40:00.002-05:00

It is usually the practice at the end of a year to reflect on the past year, see what you wish you could change and then come up with appropriate "New Year's Resolutions" to help you towards that goal of a "better you." Or something like that. I have given up on New Years Resolutions because anything associated with New Years Resolutions is inevitably given up before the end of January.

I reflect on the past year, and look forward to the New Year. I also think of things that I hope to have accomplished by the END of the next year; rather than some repetitive task that I must do every day or fail, I come up with more long term goals, and strive to be as diligent as I can in completing or following them.

Last year, my list was:

Long-term Goals for the year:
Get on a better sleep schedule. (I kinda did... for a few months. It hasn't been successful since Thanksgiving, though. Something to continue in the next year!)

Improve my cooking skills, especially in areas that I don't enjoy. (This was definitely successful, especially since the goal was to "improve" not "become a world-famous chef" but also something I will continue to focus on)

Find some way of earning income. (I have 3 piano students, and it's earning me enough to cover some of my expenses. If I end up an old maid, I would likely make enough money to at least not be a burden to my parents, and hopefully enough to support them if necessary... still looking into other possibilities though.)

Improve my singing ability. (Um, no. Not really. I feel closer to confident in my ability to harmonize... a little.)

One-time projects:
Finish redecorating the bathroom. (No... not a good idea financially.)

Finish setting up my sewing area. (Yes!)

Finish sewing the shirts Kara, Jess and I began last year. (No... but that should be taken off, because it's not MY fault! I keep waiting for both of them to be available at the same time... I'm beginning to wonder how we found the time to start them in the first place! =P )

Get my bookcases organized and neat. (I did clean off several disgusting "inspirational" romance novels that I picked up at the library booksale - $5 for a huge box. My goodness, the stuff that passes for "Christian" fiction nowadays... but not the thorough organization and elimination I was hoping for. That will be continued.)

Begin the skirt I've been wanting to make. (No. I've made several other things with fabric that we already happened to have, so I think I'll wait on the skirt until I find just the right fabric on sale...)

So, for 2010, my goals are:

Long-term:

Better sleep schedule
Improve cooking
Improve singing
Improve general house cleanliness

One-time projects:
Clean off bookcase
Make a layered cake
Make Regency dress

I've also been thinking about unavoidable things coming up in 2010... such as the approach of my 19th birthday. I'm terrified of 19. Turning 16 felt like a milestone, but it was still young. One of my friends was convinced that we were "old" when we turned 17 in June 2008. 18 should be scary, as legal adulthood, but for some reason 19 is the age that I've been dreading.

I'll be graduating from highschool... FINALLY! And beginning my self-study "college" work. If I attend college, I will probably begin in the fall of 2011.

Also, it will be my last summer competing in swimming. I'm hoping to achieve some times that will be a good "end" to my swimming, even though I will, of course, continue to swim. The times I get this summer will probably be the fastest times I will ever get in my life, so I want to make them good ones!

Since turning 19 is definitely inescapable, I've decided to look forward to it, along with everything else the year will hold! I'm excited to see what God will do in the next year.

Thoughts on Forgiveness

2009-11-26T23:15:00.001-05:00

As a child, I was compelled by my parents to ask forgiveness for offenses committed against my siblings. I was very rebellious, and usually repeated the required phrase in as saucy and sarcastic a tone as I could get away with. The make-up hug and kiss were harder to skew, but I did my best. A sad comparison to me, all of my siblings were much better at asking forgiveness, and giving it when I was forced to ask for it. However, my parents' training paid off even on their most rebellious and defiant child, and now even I earnestly try to forgive and apologize for my own wrongs whenever the Spirit prompts me... and when I know good and well that I need to... (not that I'm perfect at that or anything...)

Recently I've been pondering how important forgiveness and humble apologies are for any relationship. Christians can get angry, say hurtful things, hold onto grudges or nurse wounded feelings just like others, but if we allow ourselves to be humbled, sincerely apologize, and forgive the other person whether or not they apologize themselves, we could easily save a badly damaged relationship. I don't know about everyone else, but when someone hurts me, it is very hard for me to forgive them before they apologize... I do, and have, and will, but when they come to me and honestly apologize, it is as if the incident had never happened, and sometimes accepted apologies and renewed forgiveness create an even stronger bond than the one that was strained by the hurt.

I used to think that this verse applied only to angelic people who were never angered, and who could keep peace before an argument even started. I wrote myself off as being incapable of being a peacemaker when I was very young. Now I think that being a peacemaker has nothing to do with whether or not you started the problem, but whether or not you are willing to do everything you can to make it right later.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." -Matthew 5:9

Thoughts like this I store up my "mental" hope chest... every time I put it into practice in my current life, I am, of course, trying to heal my relationships with my family members, but I am also storing up experience for married life. I think I have no false delusions about how very often I will need these peace-making skills...

~Lizzie

Lessons through pain

2009-11-05T10:01:00.003-05:00

Well, as any readers who read this blog last year will remember, one of our cats got really sick with kidney failure and almost died. The doctors didn't think she'd make it through the night, so we went to see her thinking we were saying goodbye. But we prayed for her, and the next morning the doctors were amazed at how well she was doing. We took her home, and she started acting like her normal self... chasing her tail around, scratching on mirrors and generally making a sweet nuisance of herself.

But after a few months, she went back into a decline and died October 24. Not quite a year after getting out of the hospital.

It's amazing how much pain and stress it put our whole family through for the past year. Personally, it was a very hard time for me. I know she was "only" a cat, but she was definitely the sweetest one of our three (although also capable of being the most annoying...) and this was my first up-close experience of having to see an innocent creature suffering. I can't imagine how horrible it would be to be that close to a person suffering that severely (or worse).

It also put a good deal of strain on my relationship with God. I didn't and still don't understand why He "healed" her a year ago in the hospital just to let her suffer for another year and die of kidney failure anyway. Was it MY fault? Did I not have enough faith? Did we "undo" her healing by treating her with medication like the doctors told us to?

Or, the worst thought of all: did He heal her just to teach me all the hard lessons I learned this year watching her die?

Of the many lessons I've learned this year, the main two and the only ones I'm going to mention are these:
I've learned to trust God, no matter what. Even when it seems like there can be no possible good, I know that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." I don't have to understand what He's doing to trust Him.
The other thing I've learned is to tell God exactly what I'm feeling. He can handle my doubts, my fears, my pain, my tears and even my anger. And through difficult circumstances like these I can either turn my back on God, or use it to grow closer to him. And this life will seem so short compared to eternity that all the pain I feel in my entire life will seem less than the pain of stubbing a toe.

All these thoughts had been growing in the back of my mind, but the Jeremy Camp concert at the state fair was when it all came completely into focus and I had one of those mind-blowing moments of understanding. And that's when I finally let go of everything I'd been holding onto. Whatever else God may have done through one little cat for the rest of my family, I know He used the situation greatly in my heart, and I'm thankful. Even through the pain that I still feel, I can praise Him. He is good, and His mercy endures forever.

And even though she was just a cat, I believe Shadow is in heaven now, and I will get to see her again, just like all the Christian people that have and will get to heaven before me.

~Lizzie

Over the weekend...

2009-11-02T12:58:00.002-05:00

We went Goodwilling! We were going to go yardsaling, but it rained. No loss! At Goodwill, we found two matching little corner shelves/bookcases, a large, rustic breadbox, a "Golden Pie" collection pie plate with a decorative recipe for peach pie on the bottom, a set of six lovely glass dessert plates (not good for company, but there are six people in our family to enjoy them) and an assortment of much-needed winter clothes for my little brothers. I also found two cute little heart-shaped wall-mount candle-holders that are going in my hope chest. I think that's where the "Golden Pie" plate is going too.

The little corner bookshelves were assembled and placed into two parallel corners of our dining room, and instantly filled with pottery pieces from my mom's Seagrove pottery collection.

The rustic breadbox is currently in use holding three loaves of bread and any opened chip bags, with plans for making it less rustic in the future... hopefully sometime this week, if the weather really is as nice as it's been forecast, I'll get outside and paint it white. And then Sarah has agreed to paint some sort of design and maybe a Bible verse on the lid.

Then, on Sunday, Mom altered some curtains we got at a yard sale recently and I attempted to mount the curtain rod... I've done it before, but these windows were higher and I was at a bad angle for drilling and screwing AND I had the really heavy corded drill/screwdriver because our two battery operated ones are both dead (*sigh*). My Uncle Joel kindly finished it for me. And now we have some cute green and white checkered curtains hanging in our breakfast room! They give it a bright, airy side-walk-cafe feel.

And since I know all my readers hang on my every word and live for my day-to-day life stories, I've decided to create suspense and not post pictures until I get satisfactorily clamorous pleadings.

~Lizzie

(Actually, I just don't have time to take the pictures yet... although I won't bother to post them without requests... =P )

Fair day #2

2009-10-27T23:00:00.000-04:00

We went back to the fair with several friends to see the 10th Avenue North and Jeremy Camp concert. We got to the fair about 2, got some food, then the guys wanted to check out a crumpled SUV. We all admired Sarah's art entry. Then we went to the bike show. Unfortunately, the schedule was printed wrong, so we killed an hour going to the Village of Yesteryear, and then went back to the bike show. After the bike show, we went over to the expo building for the Dazzling Mills Family show. It wasn't quite time for the show, so we walked around and looked at the exhibits in the Expo center.

The show was great!

Vic eating a fried pickle.

They're homeschoolers! Our entirely homeschooled group screamed and cheered when this was announced, drawing the comment from Mr. Mills that "Well, THAT'S not obvious!"

After the Dazzling Mills Family, we went to ride some rides. About half the group wanted to ride Fireball, so we all got in line, and then they closed the ride. A few people rode the only real roller coaster. And then we had to split. Because of a very important Hawks baseball game, half of our group had to leave. The rest of us went to the concert.

The concert was AWESOME! The end.

After the concert we rode the ferris wheel...

From the top!

From the ferris wheel, I took a picture of the ride next on our list: the swings!

Sarah and Jessica, in their seats...

Yep, I took my camera! I like this shot, too...

Then we headed home, exhausted. So much fun! I love the fair.

~Lizzie

Introducing!

2009-10-26T12:10:00.003-04:00

Two nameless models. If you remember the sewing business that my friend Kara and I tried to start last year, this is the booster attempt with a focus on: doll clothes.

They are pictured here with our first two attempts. Kara's is the peach dress, and mine is the maroon. They won 3rd and 2nd place in the state fair, respectively.

The red head came with a name already (I hate that) and it is NOT staying. "Stacey" is so "Barbie" when it comes to dolls.

I love her red hair, and green eyes, but her face is plain (she reminds me of an early American Girl doll, and for all their popularity I've never thought that they were very nice dolls) and her coloring unfortunately unrealistic for a red head. The pricing for this doll was MUCH better than American Girl prices (very cheap with the coupon), though, so I am happy with her.

The Madame Alexander dolls I found while researching on the internet. Her vinyl upper body is nice for lower neckline and thin-strap tops, as seen in the picture.

I was very excited to find that they are sometimes available at Costco beginning in October for the holiday season. However, over the phone, Costco informed us that they would not be carrying them this year. The next week, Mom surprised me with her after a trip to Costco! The employee was apparently mistaken.

Her skin is beautifully creamy, her eyes a rich chocolate and her hair is unbelievably silky. She also has the ability to tilt her head, as well as looking up and down (like my Elsie doll). American Girl and the Springfield collection dolls (my red head) can only turn their heads from side to side. Amazingly enough, she was also fairly inexpensive (much, much less than American Girl!)

Suggestions for names are quite welcome! I'm thinking of Flanna for the red head and Rowena for the brunette...

~Lizzie

Fair day #1!

2009-10-18T20:32:00.003-04:00

My family went to the fair this past Friday. We're usually the type who arrive at the fair at 9:30 or 10am, and stay all day. This time, we didn't make it there until 2, but we still stayed for the fireworks. And I took a grand total of 4 very blurry pictures while we were waiting to ride the ferris wheel.

First we checked out all our family entries... various 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths and Honorable Mentions were awarded to some. In between checking entries, we got some corn on the cob... it's tradition. Anyway, the last entry we got to was my doll dress ... it got 2nd... even though it was the only one in the catagory... apparently the judges didn't think it was good enough for a first, even if it was the only one... I found that pretty funny! And kinda sad...

After we checked all the entries we went to take our traditional picture on the invisible bench. Then we went and rode rides, ate our traditional gyros at John the Greek, and rode more rides... David got me to go on Freak Out (I think that's what it's called...) with him this year, and it was actually pretty fun! There's also a new swings ride! Instead of the swings just going in a circle, you went around AND up really high (I'm not explaining it very well). It was pretty neat.

Then we walked around the Expo center... mostly because it was so COLD outside, but Sarah and I enjoyed seeing all the animals... I especially enjoyed seeing the calves, chicks, ducklings and I think they were baby miniature donkeys... they were all cute, anyway. After that, we rode the ferris wheel and froze... it was so cold up high, whenever the ferris wheel got to the bottom it felt warm.

Then we got some hot cider and hung around the "Heritage Circle" watching the blacksmith and sitting by the tobacco barn fires while we waited for the fire works. About 15 minutes before the fireworks went off, we went through gate 8 before they closed it for the fireworks and settled into our traditional fireworks watching spot. We watch from the parking lot just out side the gate, and then try and get to our car and get out before the crowd of "after fireworks" leavers start leaving.

It was so much fun. I always enjoy going to the fair. The bad part is Sarah picked up a cold, and I've got a little bit of something too... I'm not coughing as much as she is though, I just don't feel very energetic, and I have a scratchy feeling in my throat.

Hopefully we will recover quickly, because we're supposed to be going back to the fair this Friday to see the 10th Avenue North and Jeremy Camp concert with some of our friends...

~Lizzie

Please don't bring your issues to my pity party...

2009-10-14T16:53:00.000-04:00

Many times, when I am frustrated with something, I will try to comfort myself with the thought that someday, *I* will do it differently! My children will always be obedient, my kitchen always clean and organized and my household will flow like a merry fairy-tale...

Hahaha.

If I can't be patient now, having my own kids won't make it easier. Maybe my future home won't have the same irritations that I face now, but there will still be things to test my character. If I am not content now, there is no reason I will be content later. I will always be looking toward the future, waiting for that moment when every piece in my world falls into place...

And it finally sank into my head. Years of hearing that you must be content in all things, and it took 18 years for me to get it. But I think that I can truthfully say that I got it now! That does NOT mean that I am always content, but now, rather than wallowing in my pity party and wistfully dreaming of that "perfect" future, I remind myself that where I am now is a part of His plan, and I am meant to learn from my current circumstances.

And really, what do I have to not be content about? It's not as if my circumstances are very difficult! God has taken care of my family. We are all together, we have a house with running water, food to eat, clothes to wear, two cars, a grand piano and several Bibles. When I remember all that I have, and what some in this world do not have, I am ashamed that I could ever be discontent.

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." Philippians 4:11

~Lizzie

Successful cinnamon rolls!

2009-10-10T15:49:00.004-04:00

Or, at least, I think they are. =P

They still don't look like an advertisement, but I'm just happy that somehow, they turned nice and fluffy this time, and I made the icing a little runnier so it spread and soaked better. I also piled on the sugar, butter and cinnamon... so much that there is a gooey layer of syrupy sugar-cinnamon-butter in the bottom of the pan...

I'm satisfied. =D

~Lizzie

Doll dress

2009-10-09T20:20:00.005-04:00

My friend Kara and I made doll dresses to enter in the state fair. This is mine, on my doll, Elsie.

I couldn't get the lighting right... so I have two versions.
The washed out version:

The fuzzy, yellow version:

Maybe between the two you can get an idea what it really looks like. =P

Details:

Full length shot:

I had a lot of fun sewing this dress! We threw them together pretty last minute, so now I'm eager to do another doll dress with more planning and more care.

~Lizzie

Shocking and Malicious Distortion of Classic Literature #2

2009-10-08T17:41:00.002-04:00

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Oh, creatures of the deep, slay me before I read the first word and save me from my misery.

Oh, wait. I don't have to read it! Never mind.

There should be a law against tacking Jane Austen's name onto any contortion of her writing.

All that is needed now is a very elaborate eye-roll and a disgusted sigh.

~Lizzie

Romans 15:30-33

2009-10-05T18:48:00.006-04:00

Mr. Henderson's sermon in church yesterday was on Romans 15:30-33:
"³⁰ Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, ³¹ that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, ³² that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. ³³ Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen."

And one of the points Mr. Henderson made that stuck out to me was that Paul was begging his fellow believers to pray for him, and these were people that he didn't even know.

I don't know that I've ever begged someone to pray for me... I didn't need to beg though, because so far in my life, all I've had to do was ask. =P But I guess maybe Paul was begging because he was communicating through writing instead of in person, and since you can't see the person's responding in letter writing you want to impress your point more emphatically...?

Well, I have decided to beg for prayer for myself. If you've been reading my blog for at least a year then you've probably seen some of my posts where I rant, moan and whine about how confused I am and how I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing with myself. It seems like every time I come up with a plan, I find a flaw, or I get scared, or I change my mind. The number of plans I have adopted for a mere day or two are too numerous to count.

The problem, I think, is that my main goal is to eventually get married. I don't know when that will be (if ever), so I'm trying to find some way of making money so that I can support myself if need be. Since I took piano lessons for 9 years, and devoted a good deal of time and work into becoming a proficient pianist, the most obvious option is something involving piano. I really enjoy teaching... I have a few beginner students that I am teaching out of my home.

So, assuming that I will do something with teaching piano, the next obvious step would normally be going to college for piano pedagogy. My problems with college are that I have no desire to learn all the extra required things (like math, science, psychology or other things that colleges may require for degrees) or to spend 4 years of my life learning all of that when I could be teaching for those 4 years. Nor do I wish to leave my family.

However, I know that I lack the ability to teach students any more advanced than beginners, and I wouldn't want to have such a limitation on myself forever. As of yet, all my students have left me before they got close to intermediate level (and maybe that says something about my teaching skills...) and right now I am restricting my advertising to beginners.

My plan for this year (as I've mentioned recently) is taking up lessons again myself (I stopped for a year) and "apprenticing" with my new piano teacher to learn from her how to teach better. Today was the first day that I did the apprenticing, so I'm not sure how it will continue to work out, but today I taught two early intermediate students without her supervision, and I was hoping that she would be supervising and more of teaching me to teach than just giving me a student and saying, "Okay, go." So I'll see how that goes...

But as to future plans, I have begun reconsidering college. Meredith is a good option because it's so close that I could commute, but I don't want to have to do all the non-piano/music things that Meredith requires for a degree. Campbell (as far as I can tell from their websites) requires less non-music classes for a degree, but is just far enough that I would need to live on campus (but could come home on weekends).

The thing is, I think of teaching piano as a temporary option. I am hoping and praying that God's will is to fulfill my deepest desire of being a wife and mother, and if I teach piano after I get married, it probably won't be much. So if it is God's will for me to get married, should I spend 4 years going to school for piano? What if I end up getting married right out of college and don't use my expensive education for anything besides teaching my own children? But then, what if I never get married and my only support is teaching piano lessons for the rest of my life? Wouldn't it be better to go to college and be a skilled teacher so that I can support myself more easily if I'm a confirmed old maid?

So, to condense all that, my prayer requests are:
For God's continued guidance
For Him to give me wisdom
For me to have joy and contentment no matter where I am
For His will to be worked in my life (hopefully including a husband and family ;) )
And through wherever my life path takes me, that He will shape my character and use me to His glory.

Thank you for praying for me!

~Lizzie

Oh, beautiful weather!

2009-10-02T13:53:00.004-04:00

I love every season, but I always feel most excited about the season that is just beginning! I think God planned them perfectly so that when fall is here, I'm exactly ready for it... summer is neither too long nor too short. And then fall with its cool breezes, warm sun, falling leaves smoothly segues into winter, with freezing weather making the perfect condition to sit inside under a warm afghan by the fire with a book and a cup of hot chocolate or hot tea. About the time you're tired of being stuck inside, spring brings cheerful birds and fresh, cool mornings, with lovely flowers and new life. And then summer is back: gardens, summer flowers, swimming, cold lemonade and breezy moonlit walks...

I think I would be perfectly happy in a cozy little house in the middle of lots of land, with my own garden, and no reason to leave every day. My life is so crazy, sometimes I wonder if maybe I should be enjoying home life more... taking care of a garden, hanging clothes out on a clothesline, baking all the things it seems I never have time for, cleaning, sewing, playing piano just for fun, reading... but with my previously mentioned schedule, I hardly have time to get all the other work done.

On Monday, I have to go to my lesson, and help teach. That takes all afternoon. In the morning, I have to eat breakfast, do schoolwork, eat lunch and leave. And I don't have enough time to finish my schoolwork. I leave from my lesson, pick up Sarah at band, go home, help fix supper, eat, try to finish schoolwork and go to bed.

On Tuesday, I have to get up, eat breakfast, do school ("school" includes practice piano) and leave for swimming. We eat "lunch" at about 4 in the afternoon when we get home (starving!) and then Sarah and I leave for dance and theatre. We get home around 8 and eat supper. This past Tuesday, our director decided to spring auditions on us, so I have 4 days left now to prepare a song and monologue for audition. And I don't even know what character I would like to try out for!

On Wednesday, I get up, eat breakfast, do school and leave for swimming and water polo. Again, we eat "lunch" after swimming when we get home around 4. Then I have a few hours to do school, help fix supper and eat before we leave for our Wednesday night prayer meeting (Radical Wednesday). We leave at 7, and don't usually get home until 10... sometimes 11.

On Thursday, I get up, eat breakfast (is this redundant yet?), do school and leave for swimming. We eat when we get home at 4. Sometimes I take Sarah to band and we don't get home until 6. Then we help fix supper, eat and I usually waste the rest of the evening because by Thursday, I'm so exhausted that I don't even want to think about doing something productive (sad to say...).

On Friday, I get up, clean my room, eat breakfast, and clean the living room and foyer in preparation for my piano students. I have a student that comes at 10:30am. Then I practice piano, help fix lunch, work on school or cleaning my room (or the monologue, song and character analysis that I STILL HAVEN'T DONE!!! Ahhhhhhh!!) and on the first Friday of every month I have my "once-a-month" students at 3 and 3:30. (That's today, so right now I'm home by myself, because Mom took the boys to basketball practice, and Sarah went with them. Daddy's at work.) On the days when I don't have afternoon students, I usually take the boys to basketball practice. They get home around 4. (Hmm... we seem to get home at 4 a lot...) Then I have the rest of the afternoon to clean, work on school, practice or whatever I need to do. Fix supper, eat, usually watch some TV, and go to bed.

Saturdays don't really have a schedule, but there's usually something that we have to do around the house, or maybe shopping that needs to be done. I like to sew or do some fun baking or "deep" cleaning where I clean out junk that I somehow collect like a magnet.

On Sundays we usually stay home and do the bare minimum of work and relax. If we don't, the next week is even more stressful and hectic than the last week. You can only go, go, go for so long before you explode, crash and burn.

So if you noticed, I have a lot that I should be doing right now instead of writing this blog post. It's sometimes so overwhelming that I just shove it all aside and do something useless, like writing this post... it actually helps, because it organizes my thoughts and gives me a break so that I don't go completely insane.

And then I take a few minutes to wish that I could have a homey life ("wash day," "baking day," "cleaning day"...) sigh, and then go do SOMETHING that I need to do. I'm trying to keep ahead, and I think I'm doomed to be behind... behind in what is the variable. =\

Let the usefulness now resume...

~Lizzie

Have you ever been hungry and nauseous at the same time?

2009-09-29T12:17:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting here wrapped in a quilt, feeling hot and cold by turns. I've been in bed almost all morning, and I'm tired of laying there when it doesn't make me feel any better. I have decided to push aside polite rules and my own embarrassment to share with you something that I think everyone should know about. I won't make it as much of a TMI post as it could be, but it will definitely be more TMI than I usually am. So there's your warning.

Some girls need to know that all girls don't have their "time" as easily as they do, so that they can sympathize. Other girls need to know that they are not alone in their suffering. I used to try to suffer through, and push myself to live a normal day. I feel horribly lazy to have a "sick" day for something that healthy women are SUPPOSED to have for around 30 years of their life, but the truth is that this pain is real and it shouldn't be ignored. (Although it is also not natural, and it should be treated.)

Guys should know what this feminine "sickness" is like for girls... your mom, sister or wife will appreciate your sympathy even if she has it "easy." And if you're grossed out or don't want to hear about it, I recommend that you either never get married, or just get over it.

The medical term for it is Dysmenorrhea. Their description, however, comes nowhere near close to the excruciating pain I feel. It feels like there is a monster hand twisting and knotting my insides, and slowing pulling my insides inside-out. The slightest movement of something as remote as my toes gives causes a deepening in the pain. Breathing hurts. Lying down doesn't help much. There aren't words to describe this unique torture, so I won't try.

My whole body aches, and even without the horrific cramps, the ache would keep me from resting comfortably. My muscles feel heavy and slack. I'm shaking, and if I try to stand up, or move my head to fast, I'll get dizzy.

I'm nauseous, and I have stabbing hunger pains. From previous experience, I know that it's better to be nauseous and hungry than to eat something and then fight throwing it up. Eventually the hunger pains fade anyway... if you're hungry long enough, the hunger goes away.

If I stay active, I will eventually get a hot flash immediately followed by a cold sweat. Then the blood will drain from my face, and if I don't sit down, I will faint. I've only fainted once, fortunately.

From that point, my symptoms usually start fading. It usually only lasts a day for me, but for some it can last as long as a week.

Doctors will usually prescribe the Pill. The pill actually causes normal female fertility to temporarily cease, including menstruation. The placebo week is fake, to make users feel comfortable that they aren't completely interfering with their body's natural processes. When in actuality, they are. (Bad idea.)

Red Raspberry leaf is a natural hormone balancing herb. I've been taking it religiously for about 2 months, and it has helped a lot. It hasn't helped as much this time, but I still feel better than I usually feel. I hope that Red Raspberry is the answer, and eventually this pain will be a vague memory for me, which is why I decided to write this post while I still know what it feels like.

I hope I didn't disturb you too much, and that this was helpful for someone.

~Lizzie

glare Did YOU steal my diary?

2009-09-20T23:15:00.004-04:00

I marched into my brothers' bedroom and gave them my most intimidating stare, silently, until I had their full attention. Joel lowered his thick novel and David asked, "What?" I pursed my lips. "Did you guys take my diary?"

They looked at me and started laughing. I wasn't sure if they were guilty, or if they thought that was the most ridiculous idea they'd ever heard. However stereotypical diary-stealing brothers may be, my brothers, first and foremost, would probably be bored out of their minds if they could even read my cursive, and secondly, wouldn't invade my privacy even if it would be interesting. Still, they were more likely than my sister and parents, and I'd already checked everywhere that I could have left it.

Joel and David were still rolling on their beds laughing, Joel gasping, "I... can't... breathe!!!" when Sarah walked in. "What's so funny?"By this time, I was trying to stifle my own laughter. "Did YOU take my diary?" Sarah instantly started laughing. If I didn't know better, I would think they were all in on it, but they know enough about my thoughts to know that my diary would be redundant to them.

Sarah followed me when I went to check if Mom had seen it. After Mom affirmed that she hadn't taken it, Sarah asked, "Did you even know she HAS a diary?" To which Mom admitted that she didn't.

Daddy is already asleep, so he's the only un-investigated suspect... I just can't figure out what happened to it! It must have been me... but I only write in it in one place, and I only keep it in one place, and I looked both, and in between isn't a very far distance either... quite frustrating.

And I just wanted to copy down an interesting passage I just read.

~Lizzie

On my schedule this year...

2009-09-16T17:09:00.003-04:00

Monday: piano lesson and student-teaching/assisting with some younger students

Tuesday: Swimming, Broadway Dance and Theatre class.

Wednesday: Swimming, water polo, possibly Adv. Acting (not decided yet) and Radical Wednesday (Wednesday night church meeting).

Thursday: Swimming

Friday: Teaching my own piano students.

Throw in school, and my siblings' activities like band, basketball and baseball and it makes for a fuller schedule than it appears.

For my "super" senior year, I'm doing business math, Human Biology, Spanish (still...) and an assortment of history, writing and literature books. For the first time, I get to choose what I'd like to do, instead of what I need to graduate! The beginning of school is always exciting, with new books and the prospect of interesting things to learn, but the excitement usually fades very quickly for me. This year I anticipate enjoying my "school" work much more. Mostly because I don't feel like it IS school, since I'm learning things that will be useful and interesting for me!

Along with school-type books, I've also selected several books on Christianity, health, etc. to read as a part of school this year... an idea that I got from Meredith. =) I began with Stepping Heavenward on Sunday, and finished it Monday in the car as we drove to Wilmington to visit my Nana. I've never been able to read in the car without feeling sick before, so I've either outgrown it, or the book was just so engrossing that I didn't feel sick... whatever is was, I REALLY enjoyed Stepping Heavenward!

I'm also adjusting my sleeping schedule so that I go to bed earlier, and get up earlier. When I was younger I didn't understand why "early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," but now I realize that you get so much more productive work done when you get up early. It truly gives you more DAY time, and as my late evenings are usually spent in some unproductive activity like TV or computer, I think rising early is an important habit for me to form. It is also healthier, because 10pm-2am are the best hours of sleep, and if you get those hours of sleep you can spend less time sleeping, but still wake up feeling refreshed and energized.

I'm so excited about everything this school year may hold!

~Lizzie

Silly quiz...

2009-08-16T22:08:00.001-04:00

I found it on Meredith's blog, and couldn't resist. =P

1. What two qualities do you want most in your future husband (besides being a Christian)? Joy that will last through hardships and love of children.

2. Is there a fictional character you see as a model for your future husband? Mr. Knightley and Mr. Tilney (both from Jane Austen novels... =P)

3. Where do you want your wedding? In my own front yard... I have it all worked out.

4. What are your views on courtship? I've done many long rants/explanations about it, but in a nutshell, I believe courtship a mindset, and that being in that mindset while getting to know a special someone is the only way to end up with the right one.

5. Do you have a purity ring/locket? Kind of... on my charm bracelet, I have a gold heart inscribed with "He who holds the key can unlock my heart." I gave the key to my daddy, as a symbol that until the man God has for me comes into my life, my daddy is the man who protects me.

6. Do you have or want a hope chest? I do have a hope chest. It's slowly collecting things...

7. Will you wear a veil at your wedding? I'm not sure... I'll have to find one I like and that hasn't happened yet. The wedding would not be ruined in my opinion if I didn't have a veil.

8. What kind of wedding dress do you want? I want a modest, short sleeve or sleeveless (NOT strapless), full-skirt dress with no train. I'm not sure if I'll find it or make it, but I always look at the wedding dresses at Goodwill, and if I find what I'm looking for I'll buy it and save it! =P

9. What color bridesmaid dresses do you want? Well, I want a small wedding, so I might only have Sarah as my maid of honor... so I'll let her have whatever color she wants, excluding hot pink. If I have more, I might still let them wear whatever color... I'm not sure.

10. What flowers do you want in your bouquet? That would depend on what season I end up getting married, but I'd like to cut my own flowers and arrange them myself... so whatever is blooming.

11. What do you want to name one of your daughters? I like Celtic names... Moyna, Sianna, Flanna, Arela.

12. What do you want to name one of your sons? Alan, Devlin, Tiernan... Maybe one of my desired traits in a husband should be "tolerance of weird names." :\

13. How many kids do you want? My joke answer is 13... almost everyone who knows makes fun of me. Really, it's "AT LEAST" 13. Laugh, gasp or cajole all you want, that's my desire.

14. What music do you want to play at your wedding? Strings and flute... I would say piano, but I want it in my front yard, so a piano might be too much trouble.

15. Are you a hopeless romantic? I wouldn't say so. I can easily enjoy the romance in anything, but I don't look for that kind of romance for myself. My dream is just to have a simple life with the man God has for me. And then, even the normal things in life are romantic.

TCC First Annual Dads & Daughters Night

2009-08-14T15:23:00.006-04:00

This was not the first Father/daughter dance I'd been to. I've been to one that was in a slightly decorated gym, where everyone brought a snack to share, a hired DJ played all the "usual," there was no room to sit, less room to dance, and it was lots fun. Until one night, I listened to one of the songs that was played, and couldn't believe what I was hearing. I wish I could say that one song was all it took for me to want to leave, but it took three reprehensible songs, and then I was ready to leave and never come back. And that's what we did.

I always enjoyed the night spent with my sister and daddy, (even when the songs were horrible) and I missed it this year (it was always around Valentine's Day). Then, just a couple weeks ago, Mr. Finneran announced that he was planning a Christian Community Dads & Daughters night for August 13th.

I was excited about the idea, but I confess that at first, I wasn't too happy that it was going to be right after hours of swimming and water polo. I ended up having to miss water polo to get ready in time (30 minutes might be enough for Sarah and Jessica, but it's not enough for me!) It was worth it. The messy little room at TAC was transformed by Mrs. Finneran, Mrs. Jacob and my mom into an elegant and lovely dining room and dance floor. The fluorescent lights were out and the lighting was provided by candles, soft lamps and Christmas light strands. Pink and white streamers, light pink balloons, beautiful table cloths, and delicate doilies all added a special touch. I could never believe it was the same stark, unfinished and harsh room we'd had our swim team awards banquet in.

Sarah and Jessica, preparing for a picture together...

Sarah and Jessica

We had a meal, Mr. Finneran gave a devotional talk, and then the dads presented their daughters with a rose. Since my mom was responsible for getting the roses, I had seen them ahead of time, and already had my heart set on one that was not quite as bright pink as all the others. When Daddy picked our roses for us, he picked for me the very one I wanted!

My little brothers and some of the other young men were being the waiters, and they were all so cute, refilling drinks and offering more salad, or more sparkling apple cider. Little Torin was especially adorable, he was so excited to be a waiter, so eager to do anything, and very serious about his job.

My brother, Joel, and Torin, "helping" the DJ.

Then the DJ (who played the piano during the meal) cranked up the dance music and we danced. Then we ate cake, and danced some more.

Jessica and her dad, dancing very well...

It was all over way too soon. It was such a special evening, I'm so glad to have the night with Daddy and Sarah back. And the older girls are looking forward to planning an similar event for the dads and moms sometime soon!

Our table...

Sarah, with her lip-like heart candy from the dance.

Our roses... (there were three left over, so the three moms who were in charge of decorating and the six hours of hard work got a rose each as well.) Can you see the difference between mine and Sarah's and Mom's?

It was so nice, I can't wait to do one for the moms!

~Lizzie

"It's cute... not saying I like it, but it's cute..."

2009-08-07T13:46:00.005-04:00

- Sarah's opinion of this little arrangement.

I had been feeling sad about cutting Black-eyed Susans because they almost always have little baby buds on the stem that are too low to fit in the arrangement, but too high to avoid being cut along with the main flower. But today I decided to try sticking them in their own little vase instead of throwing them away, and they ended up looking better than I imagined they would!

This is the arrangement of Zinnias that I wanted the long Black-eyed Susans for. (It's kind of blurry, but the flash looked much worse.)

Sarah and I are very excited about Wicked coming to DPAC April/May 2010... but I am beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have a problem with the witches and wizards and magic in Wicked. After all, I rejected Harry Potter because of Christian objections to witchcraft and witches being portrayed in a good light. Glinda is a "good" witch. There is witchcraft in Wicked... flying on brooms and such. Wicked seems more like an innocent story than Harry Potter, but it still centers on witches who are supposed to be "good." I'm very torn. I feel that I should be objecting to Wicked too, but I've heard that it's such a good show, and I have the soundtrack and the music is fantastic... and it's not like I'm a child that could be fooled into thinking that real witches are good just by a show!

Also, J. K. Rowling (a professed witch) has said that she intended Harry Potter to encourage American children to experiment with witchcraft! Wicked is just another Broadway musical: typically slightly cheesy, with no mind-blowing intent beyond being a well-acted and well-sung musical... the witches are just another twist in a thread of musicals with all-too-similar romantic plots. Right? At least I have 8 months to think about it. Thoughts are welcome. =)

~Lizzie

The day of the mysterious package...

2009-08-03T20:19:00.004-04:00

I discovered an intriguing plain box outside our door early this afternoon. It had our address, and a return address, but said nothing of the sender, only "P.O. box ****" etc. I picked it up and whatever was inside thumped invitingly... I was hoping it wasn't another delivery for Sarah's new still-secret business, and it wasn't. Mom and I opened it, and inside were Nerf basketballs the size of baseballs, and some plastic and cardboard hoops.

I looked at Mom curiously, wondering if she'd ordered it for the boys, but she was as puzzled as I was... until we read the included letter, which read:

"Dear NERF Hoop Sweepstakes First Prize Winner:

Congratulations on being a First Prize Winner!

Your entry into the NERF Hoop Sweepstakes was selected in a random drawing as a First Prize winner.

The First Prize package is: one (1) NERF WALL2WALL HOOP product and one (1) NERFOOP product. Approximate retail value of each First Prize Package is $23.00.

We hope you enjoy this First Prize package.

Cottonwood Enterprises INC.
Sales Promotion Specialists"

My first thought was: "If this is First Prize, what is Second Prize?" And my second thought was: "Good grief! All the free car, jewelry, vacation and food drawings we've entered in, and we win a NERF sweepstakes?" *sigh* :\

Oh well.

~Lizzie

"From a frustrated customer"

2009-08-01T13:46:00.004-04:00

Dear Volvo,
I love almost everything about your cars except for the "new" seat design, which features a head rest jutting forward in a most un-ergonomic position. Yes, I realize it is artistic, but I would rather lean my head back with out getting my neck snapped forward. Also, your seat back support is backwards. It juts out at the UPPER back, and curves away from supporting the lower back. I'm not sure it could have been more badly designed if that had been the actual intent.

Sincerely,
A Would-Be Volvo Lover

Baptisms and Memories...

2009-07-26T13:57:00.009-04:00

I've always been told I became a Christian when I was four. I don't really remember it, but I never questioned it. When I was 8, we went to a typical Baptist church, and some of my friends had decided to get baptized. In light of the up-coming baptism, many of the sermons began to center on verses about baptism, and I began to feel guilty and pressured to be baptized. After all, I was a Christian, so I should be baptized, right? I finally asked Daddy to take me to see the pastor so that I could get into the pre-baptism class/study that was required. But then I chickened out. Looking back, I'm glad I did.

March 24, 2003, I heard a radio program that finally struck home. The pastor's point was that if you claim to be a Christian, but still haven't surrendered your life to Christ, then you probably aren't really a Christian. And that you were particularly in trouble if you didn't remember becoming a Christian. He recommended that if you didn't remember it, that you rededicate your life to Christ and then write the date down, so that when the Devil gave you doubts you could come back with that date. I got the feeling that he was talking directly to me. I'm still not sure if I really was a Christian before then or not, but my official date is March 24, 2003, and that's when my life changed.

That summer, we joined the Christian Community Summer Club for the first time, and started going to a "house" group that met at the pool. At one of the August meetings, the pastor announced that his daughter Kara had asked to be baptized and that a baptism would be held at the pool in two weeks. I instantly knew I wanted to be baptized as well, and that it was right this time. Exactly five months after I finalized my faith, on August 24, 2003, I was baptized by Coach Matt and my daddy, along with 4 others, Kara, Matt, Sean and Kyle. It was so much more special to be baptized in an informal setting by my daddy and another man I respected, instead of a Baptist pastor that I didn't even really know.

This past Wednesday, July 22, 2009, I got to watch as all 3 of my siblings were baptized by our daddy, our Coach, and the two other men in our fellowship group, Mr. M and Mr. J. Along with my siblings, there were the rest of Kara's siblings, Rachel, Trissa and Torin, the one who asked for the baptism, Hannah J. and her sister, Rachel, and Chandler M. It was so exciting for me to see all my siblings publicly confess their faith in Christ, and so sweet to see all 9 of those children and young adults baptized. We had a meal together beforehand, and played in the pool and celebrated with dessert afterward.

Here are some pictures from the baptism 6 years ago (I can't believe it's been that long!) and some from last Wednesday.

Me, Kara and Sean... we look so young!

Praying for me to grow in the spirit and walk with God the rest of my life... along with other things. =)

With my daddy! And you thought I was short NOW...

Sean, Matt, Kara and me... I don't remember what Coach was saying. And too bad Kyle isn't in this picture. I think he was on the other side of Sean.

Pre-baptism talk... missing Rachel J. I ALMOST got everyone. :\

I'm only putting pictures of my siblings because there would be way too many pictures if I put all of them...

Praying for them...

~Lizzie

Undefeated and Deep Thoughts...

2009-07-23T22:38:00.004-04:00

Yes, our swim team is undefeated!!!! Two summers in a row, plus 4 from 2007 makes us a total of 16 meets straight undefeated. We didn't think we were going to make it against Black Horse Run this past Tuesday. We were all unbelievably tense as we waited and waited for the score... some of the Black Horse Run swimmers were already celebrating, but the score was TCC 255.5 to BHR 239.5!! Much screaming and cheering exploded from our team. It was a very close meet, and BHR has some amazing swimmers. However, the mostly-homeschooled team continues to prove that we are just as capable of swimming as "normal" people are...

And as to my "deep thoughts"... It has come to my attention that so far in my life, I have yet to meet ANYONE (and therefore, particularly no men) who completely agrees with every Biblical belief I have. Let me explain what I personally mean by Biblical.

I have many beliefs that may not be definitively laid out in the Bible, but all of my strong beliefs are grounded in my understanding of the Bible. If I didn't have a Biblical reason for some standpoint, then I hope I would be able to easily reconsider my opinion. However, the ones with Biblical reasoning are very important to me, and as they are all related to my Christian beliefs, I would never be able to give them up lightly.

This is troubling for me, mostly because I've realized how very unlikely it would be for there to be a "someone" who would agree with me. And as the woman, if I chose to follow a man that didn't hold my beliefs it would be my duty to relinquish my beliefs for his. (Of course, I am still speaking of "bigger deal" issues and not minor things... I don't intend to become a female clone of my future husband)

But that is not the final dilemma. What I am trying to figure out is if I need to have more faith in God, or if some of my opinions are too strong. What is really important enough that I would reject a godly, honorable man if he disagreed with me? Or should I be trusting God to bring me a man that believes exactly what I do?

I realize that I'm being very silly to be worrying about this already, but I figure I can't hurt anything by trying to puzzle it out and pray about it ahead of time. It would be so much more painful if I already had a suitor that didn't agree with me and I had to have this time of deliberation. Right now, while my mind is still cleared of any partiality to any man, I have time to evaluate which of my beliefs are truly grounded in conviction from God, and which may be just opinions that I have formed and glorified on my own.

It is very intriguing...

~Lizzie

Of Butter beans and Swimming pools...

2009-07-17T16:20:00.003-04:00

After picking and shelling butter beans this morning, we were all excited to go swimming to cool off and relax.

Granite Falls Swim and Athletic Club just opened in Rolesville on July 4th. And the pools are salt water! Knowing how bad chlorine is for you we were excited. We went over there on July 4th, ready to swim at their Grand Opening... only to find out that it was for people who were already members. Silly us, we thought they'd let us try it out first! But the lady there told us that once the indoor pool opened (there's an indoor competition pool, two outdoor pools and the exercising room) that they would offer day passes. So today, we called to find out how much the day passes were, only to be told that to visit, you have to be the guest of a member. Fine! Forget that! We're not going to pay $400 (a one-time fee) and THEN $88 a month without even getting to try it out first! That is a ridiculous cost.

We were so disappointed, but still determined to swim, because we all had our hearts set on it. We decided to go over to Optimist. When we arrived, we saw the results of the "renovations" they'd been doing. It was supposed to be all glass, with removable panels. Instead, a permanent tent-like "bubble" is over the pool, which used to be an outdoor pool. So we didn't get any sun. There were garage doors open on the side, I guess in an attempt to let in fresh air. It still smelled like chlorine, and the water tasted funny.

After hardly any time swimming, it started to rain. And apparently it thundered, because they cleared the pool. Since the wait to get back in was a half an hour, we decided to just leave. We went in the locker rooms to shower, and in the middle of our showers, a life guard came in and said, "No showers! Clear the pool deck!"
"This is the pool deck?" I finished my shower anyway. (I know, I'm such a bad girl.)

As we were getting into our cars, the sun came back out.

~Lizzie

Finished Apron

2009-07-16T20:43:00.003-04:00

It didn't turn out as nice as it could have... the green checked material ended up being really hard to work with, so I let some little mistakes go by instead of going through the trouble of ripping seams and sewing them again. Still, for my first attempt at an apron, I'm pleased with it. And I really like the color combination...

Oh, the wonders of Plantain!

2009-07-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

I was innocently yard-saling with Mom this morning (early, before we went over the JCHE conference and book sale... more on that in a bit...) and saw this lovely desk. As I wove through furniture to look at it, I suddenly felt a pain in my ankle, much like a piece of glass being stabbed into my skin, and then scraped in a circular motion underneath the skin around the stabbing point. I yelped, and bent over to brush/scrape/ANYTHING to remove the source of pain. But as I leaned over, I felt a tingling, prickling sensation all over my body, and then I realized I was sitting on the tarp that was laid out for the yard sale. The wound on my ankle was throbbing, and with each throb, it felt like I was being stabbed with the piece of glass again. At that point, I was too confused and terrified to care what it was that had bitten or stung me (I knew it wasn't actually a piece of glass) I just wanted the stabbing to stop. I was rubbing the injury unconsciously, not knowing whether it was the wise thing to do or not.

Mom located the bee, which I'd killed in frantic attempt to stop the pain. Apparently it was some sort of ground bee (the tarp was probably placed over its hive, and I was perceived as the threat) and it left a round hole in my skin, much like some sort of bite or something. It was raw, almost bleeding, and the area around it on that side of my ankle was becoming red and swollen, while a smaller, white circle was expanding around the red welt. This was, by far, the most painful bee sting I have every experienced. Regular, fuzzy, bumblebee stings are NOTHING compared to this.

I was terrified almost to hysteria to notice another such bee buzzing around me as I sat on the tarp in my bewildered pain, and I leapt to my feet and ran from the yard sale (without getting to check out the desk I was going for in the first place...). Mom followed, more sanely and looking for plantain.

Now, for those who may not know, plantain is what most Americans consider "a weed." But plantain is in fact a very useful herb, which my family uses constantly on mosquito bites, fly bites or any kind of bite or sting. It removes the poison and instantly begins to bring relief.

Unfortunately for me, however, this neighborhood appeared to be the typical American neighborhood in which everyone uses some kind of weed killer, and therefore has nothing but grass in the yards. We searched, with yard-sales in between, for possibly ten to fifteen minutes (maybe less, but it seemed like longer to me) before finally finding some in a wild area which appeared to belong to no one. At least, no one was cutting the grass, and no one was spraying weed killer. The plantain was very small, but I was so overcome with relief that I didn't care. I picked all the leaves, chewed them, and spit them on the sting.

That may sound disgusting, but you try getting stung by a ground bee and see what you'll do to ease the pain.

We continued yard-saling, and every time I saw more plantain, I'd pick it, chew it up and add it to my poultice.

The leaves aren't very well chewed up here. Mostly because I was too anxious to get them on my ankle, but also because they don't taste that great. This picture includes the first and second doses. The first dose was barely enough to cover the welt. The second dose covered the red, swollen area. At this point I was feeling well enough to think of blogging and taking pictures, which I think relieved Mom.

A little later, we were going close by our house anyway, so we stopped to pick a BUNCH of plantain (which I chewed VERY well), and apply it along with plastic wrap and an Ace bandage (just to hold it in place) so that I could yard sale some more instead of just sitting in the car while Mom shopped.

And wouldn't you know it... after all those weeks of me wearing an Ace bandage because I actually sprained my ankle, the first time a stranger says, "Oh, did you sprain your ankle?" I'm caught unawares, and end up blabbering something about a bee sting and "stuff" to "help it." Why didn't they ask when I could just answer a simple, "Yes"?

So anyway. I survived and Mom and I made it over to the conference. I hung out with Daddy and the boys until the late afternoon at the table promoting Christian Community Sports... featuring a poster board of pictures and info put together by Sarah and me... designed by Sarah... and almost all the pictures are pictures Sarah took. I was just the unworthy, completely in-artistic assistant, who cut tape and stuck it to the back of pictures and paper for Sarah to place. Pictures coming soon! =P

And now, I should have been in bed a long time ago, because we have the Greater Raleigh Championship Meet tomorrow, and I need my sleep.

~Lizzie

Yay... I'm not COMPLETELY abnormal...

2009-07-09T23:15:00.000-04:00

Daddy always says I got it from my mom. She can't stand the smell of gasoline/exhaust. I get a headache whenever I get a whiff of gasoline, exhaust, perfume, mold, cleaning materials, paint and did I mention perfume? Not only that, but normal smells are overwhelming to me, even if they don't give me a headache. For example, at night, we turn off our A/C and open our windows. When I get up in the morning and come downstairs, the garage doors are open, and the screen door from the kitchen to the garage is letting in fresh air. At least, that's what my family thinks. I think that the whole kitchen smells like SOMETHING from the garage, and whatever it is, it is NOT appetizing to me. It's one of the most disgusting smells ever.

Another thing that really annoys me... I can tell when the pool deck hasn't been cleaned very recently. It smells like a wet dog. And none of my teammates understand. I've stopped asking them if they smell it, because they inevitably begin to think that they are the source of the smell, and I have to stumble over myself and assure them that that's absolutely impossible, and that I can still smell the scent of their shampoo/body wash from when they last showered... and yes, I can actually smell it over the chlorine. Thank goodness the smell of chlorine doesn't bother me. And one time, I was swimming almost in the middle of the pool (4 or 5 lanes away from the side of the pool) and I got a headache from the lifeguard's cologne. :\

Cigarette smoke instantly makes me cough, and I can smell it outdoors when the person smoking is about 50 feet away. It's not just a smell to me, it overwhelms my whole sense of smell, and smells so strong that I can taste it. I don't know what it would be like if I ever tried smoking myself, but you can be certain I wouldn't even think of trying it.

The detergent aisle is pure torture. I can smell the aisle from two aisles away. And some clothes I find at Goodwill I can't buy, because there's a particular detergent smell that give me a headache INSTANTANEOUSLY and the smell won't go away no matter how many times I wash the clothes. I found a really cute shirt one time that smelled horrific (I couldn't even touch it because the smell would linger on my hands) and tried washing it again and again and it still gave me an instant headache. I have to use organic detergent on my clothes.

I usually can't wash my hands with the soap in public bathroom dispensers, because any time I tuck my hair behind my ear, or rest my chin in my hand after that, I'll get a headache. And the smell lasts for at least 2 hours, even if I try to wash it off, or cover it with lotion. There was a bathroom at a basketball tournament once where the soap smelled so bad, it seemed like the bathroom was FLOODED in that soap, and it was a horrible anti-bacterial smell too. I carry natural hand sanitizer.

Strangely enough, though, even some "natural" and "organic" lotions, soaps, etc. give me headaches too. But very rarely.

Also, "tagless" tags (where the tag is printed on the shirt in a rubbery-type ink) gives me a rash, which I've discovered in research, is probably a chemical burn from the phthalates and other chemicals in the "tagless" tag.

Anyway, the point of that long rant was to say that, apparently, there's actually a name for it! Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). I don't have too bad of a case, though, since I only get headaches and rashes. I suppose I might get fatigue and mood disturbances... I've never noticed if any fatigue and mood disturbances were caused by anything particular, other than lack of sleep. =P

Funny how "they" come up with names for everything. I suppose that makes it seem more safe to people who actually have the particular problem. I just want to know if I can get rid of it... but then, I guess having a noticable sensitivity is better than being unknowingly harmed by all those chemicals. *sigh* What a wonderful world...

~Lizzie

2009 NC State Fair!

2009-07-08T18:26:00.002-04:00

Theme? "A Whole Lot of Happy"

New Competition? "TXT-O-LYMPIX"
"One competition at this year’s N.C. State Fair is all about thumbs, and not just the green variety. TXT-O-LYMPIX, a texting challenge of speed and accuracy, makes its debut this year. The winner earns a blue ribbon and boasts the title of “Fastest State Fair Thumb” for the remainder of the Fair."

Um... PUH-LEEZE!!!

*rolls eyes and goes to contemplate sewing and baking entry ideas*

~Lizzie

Nothing like clean workspace...

2009-07-06T19:20:00.003-04:00

to get me motivated to finish up my school for the year!

And nothing like Biology to get me UNmotivated. Biology is the worst subject ever to be forced upon innocent unscientific people. I can manage Chemisty, General Science and even Physical science, but Biology just confounds me. There are too many weird words like "Mitosis" and "Meiosis"... how am I supposed to remember which one is which... even if I could remember the separate definitions in the first place? I'm still slogging through Biology... and yes, I started it two YEARS ago. Don't get me wrong, I find it all very interesting. But I want to read about it, and then forget the definitions. I would rather memorize the definitions to new words that I could use in ordinary conversation instead of some arbitrary word that describes something so particularly exact that it can only be used in a discussion of Biology. I even prefer Advanced Mathematics to Biology. As much as I dislike the constant repetition and uselessness of all this higher weird math, at least I understand it and there are no lengthy definitions to memorize.

I'm definitely an English kind of person. Even though I think English is a ridiculous language (yes, more ridiculous than languages with feminine and masculine nouns) I still enjoy the proficiency behind a well-written work. The way a well-written sentence instantly discloses its meaning, instead of forcing you to see past the words, intrigues me. I know I am far from having that proficiency myself, but I look forward to continuing to learn to use English well.

I'm also interested in learning to fluently speak other languages. English, while I enjoy it, seems so dull and stoic compared to languages that seem to flow like music and roll of the tongue easily. Spanish is not my favorite... but it is helpful, considering that our nation is soon going to be completely overtaken by Mexicans. (Hey, they still have tons of kids, while most Americans average about 2.1 children per couple.) Gaelic is what I really want to learn... yep, a dead language. It's just so beautiful...

So anyway. There's my take on schoolwork. I would infinitely prefer to learn how to cook, decorate, arrange flowers and sew LOTS of things, along with my English. But that's what I'll get to do more of as soon as I'm done with school! YES!

School is what you HAVE to learn... and then after that, you get to have fun learning! :P

~Lizzie

Meets!

2009-07-03T21:44:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I haven't done any meet posts this summer yet, and that's mostly because Natalie has found bigger and better cameras to borrow, so I don't have any pictures. Sarah does, but you have to be on Facebook to see them, as Sarah has almost nothing to do with the blog any more.

But just in case anyone was wondering, we've won all 3 of our meets so far.

And here are the two pictures I managed to get on my camera...

Obviously, I'm in this one... Mom took it for us. This is our 15-18 girls relay team.

Sarah, taking pictures with her Canon Rebel XTi... dangerously close to the edge of the pool.

I hope everyone has a nice 4th of July tomorrow!

~Lizzie

Link Within

2009-07-03T12:46:00.002-04:00

I added a new widget... let me know what you think! I'm not quite sure I like it... it seems like all the posts it suggests are repeated frequently. Plus it probably doesn't have any sort of intelligent choosing, and I do so many short, boring posts (like this) that will come up too often as well.

Hmmm.

~Lizzie

Wow, what a trip!

2009-06-21T16:18:00.010-04:00

We managed to leave at 1:17am (only 17 minutes late!). It felt very odd, because I'd spent the whole day getting ready and I was ready to go to bed... but it was time to leave. I was hoping that I'd be ready to go in time to sleep about 2-3 hours before we left, but that didn't happen.

I made muffins and pizza rolls for breakfast and lunch on the way up. (They lasted for breakfast and lunch on the way back too, and we just ate the last pizza rolls.)

Pesto and sun-dried tomato pizza rolls.

Mixed-berry cornmeal muffins and blueberry muffins

Pizza rolls (recipe from Trina's blog). Originally pepperoni rolls... I made these with ground hamburger, and, like Trina, I put the sauce in the roll instead of dipping. Dipping was too messy for a car trip.

I made two pans of the hamburger pizza rolls.

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures on the drive up because it was either dark, or I was driving or I was asleep. Sarah got some. She will post them... or else.

This is the swimming pool at our motel room. We arrived, unloaded, got into our suits, went down the pool... got to swim a little bit and then? It thundered, and started raining, and lightening was everywhere.

This is the view from our second-story motel room of the pool. In the rain.

Joel didn't want to swim anyway.

I failed to get pictures at the rehearsal dinner. I also failed to get pictures at the wedding. I don't know what I was thinking! I was just enjoying it all... Mom and Sarah got some pictures. But Chris and Kristen wrote their own vows, and they were so sweet, I immediately wished that I had thought to get it on video!! *bangs head on desk* I also wish I'd recorded the toasts. The groomsmen were amusingly unanimous in their expressions of awe and shock that CHRIS was married the first out of all of them. And he apparently told one of the groomsmen (AJ) only about a year ago that he would purposefully schedule his wedding one day after AJ's just to make sure he won. And, uh... he lost. AJ said the purple shirt and tie (his groomsman attire) did NOT count as payment for the bet. :P

But I am getting ahead of myself. Before the wedding, we managed to swim in the pool after all. It was the perfect temperature water, and it was a nice sunny day. We all got nice sunburns. So we swam, and then ate lunch, got dressed, packed up and checked out of our motel room.

The wedding was beautiful, and very unique. Kristen carried a bouquet that I believe was composed of Gerbera Daisies. The bridesmaids were in deep purple, the groomsmen in light purple dress shirts and ties, and Chris was in a darker purple shirt and tie. (I really like the idea of having the groomsmen and groom in a color and not tuxes.) The daisies were bright pink, orange and yellow. It was all very sweet and refreshing.

The reception was a full dinner. It was very formally set up, but some people changed into more casual clothes. The men in the wedding party had to suffice with just changing from dress shoes into flip-flops.

The wedding party table.

First dance.

Cutting the cake. (Yes, like a stupid amateur photographer, I cut the cake out of the picture. Get over it.)

Feeding each other the cake. Chris suggested that they step back and try to toss it in each other's mouths... Kristen almost went for it, but didn't want to risk messing up Chris's shirt.

It was a really special trip. I'm so excited for Chris and Kristen. I wish they lived closer so that we could see them more often! Kristen really brings out the best in Chris. He's always been a great guy, and a really nice cousin, but he was usually reserved and Kristen gives him so much joy. I've never seen someone so altered (in a good way) by a special someone. I know they will have a great life together. I just hope they're around enough for me to see it. =D

And now... can you see the "I didn't get much sleep, and now we're going to travel through the night AGAIN?!?" behind Sarah's smile? We left Illinois at 8:30pm for NC. We got home this afternoon at 12:15pm.

I drove a grand total of 8 and a half hours, and 621 miles.

It was fun!

~Lizzie

Driving to Illinois!

2009-06-18T10:51:00.004-04:00

My cousin is getting married Saturday, and we're driving up for the rehearsal dinner and wedding... and then driving back, right after the wedding. Half of the entire trip will be spent driving, but I'm excited, first because I really want to see my cousin and meet his fiancee, but also because I've never been to any states but NC and VA, and this trip will add West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to my list! =)

We're not sure exactly when we're leaving... anywhere between 10pm tonight and 3am tomorrow have been suggested. I think 1am is our current goal. That should put us arriving in IL somewhere around 1-2 pm Central time. Unless we take long stops... which would be nice. The rehearsal dinner isn't until 7, so we'll have plenty of time if we leave at 1am.

Then we're planning to leave right after the wedding (we're guessing that will be about 5pm) and that will put us home sometime between 5-7am Sunday morning.

So I better get back to getting ready now!

~Lizzie

My recent thoughts on courtship...

2009-06-07T10:26:00.009-04:00

I was raised with the idea of courtship. Even when I was little, I knew that I wasn't going to have the typical "boyfriend/girlfriend" relationship. When I was about 7, two of my friends in the neighborhood had boyfriends. And I didn't know WHY it was wrong, I just knew it was wrong. (Unfortunately, though, I decided that I needed to fit in, so for about a year I had a pretend "half"-boyfriend.)

As I grew older, I read many books on the subject of courtship, and formed my own opinions of what it should be. I understand the reasons against dating, the reasons for courtship, and now have several good reasons that I could have told the 7-year-old me why not to lie, and to even encourage my friends on a different path. But that is past now... there are so many things I wish I could change.

But then, I swung too far in the other direction. If it was "dating" then it was wrong and if it was "courting" then it was right! And I had two very specific ideas of how courtship and dating would be (even though I have never experienced either one) and I don't know what I would have called some relationships, because hardly any fit into my tight little molds.

Finally, I am arriving at what I hope is a correct perspective. I believe that whether you are courting or dating, there are three important points of distinction.

If:
1. You are heading towards marriage
2. You are careful not to emotionally wound the other person (if at all possible)
3. You keep God at the center of your life and relationship

.... then you are courting, no matter what you call it.

If you're just in a relationship for temporary fun and are ready to "dump" the other person as soon as you're tired of them (a week or 3 years later) then frankly, I don't know how you can have God at the center of your life and relationship... but even if you do, what you're doing is dating.

It's interesting to be getting to the age where people fairly close to my own age are getting married. Sarah Garner is the first in my life. (And she is a few years older than me, and someone I've always looked up to -- like when she told us to stop throwing teddy bears on top of the ceiling fan, right, Anna? =P). I think she and Michael have a great story, and it broke away the last remnants of my "this is how it has to be" mold.
It took me long enough, but now, I finally understand that everyone is different, and even if everyone in the world courted, not one of them would have the same story as someone else. I know, that should be obvious... I'm just the kind of person who misses the obvious on first glance.

So, even though I have no idea how my story will go, I have come up with what I think is my ideal... although I doubt it will actually happen that way. I really just want to be friends with him, whoever he is, first.

I'm really excited about all the stories I'll get to see with my friends' relationships in the coming years. And of course, I am eager to know what God has planned for me. I don't think my story is going to be opening up any time soon, though... I don't know if it should feel this way, but the older I get, the less ready I feel for marriage. Maybe it's like Aslan said in "Prince Caspian": "If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been proof that you were not." =P And in that case, I need to feel even less sufficiently ready!

~Lizzie

P. S. My thoughts came together pretty quickly! ... I'm not sure how coherent they are, though. =P

whew Yes!!

2009-06-06T21:34:00.002-04:00

It is with great joy and relief that I announce: the cast managed to convince Mr. Green that we needed more rehearsal time! I don't know if it was the eloquence, how pathetic the rehearsal was, or a combination of both, but whatever it was, we get to be at the venue ALL DAY this Friday, starting at 10:30am and continuing until after the first show is over... we probably won't get home until 11pm. That probably sounds kind of miserable (and it will be until the show adrenaline kicks in!) but we really need it.

This development has lifted about 10 pounds of stress from my mind. (Which is odd, considering that I will be EVEN MORE busy now...) I can basically forget about the play until Thursday. Which frees me up to relax, and calmly get ready for the voice recital tomorrow and the dance things coming up Monday and Tuesday. *huge sigh of profound contentment*

A romantic courtship/marriage musing post may be coming sooner than I thought. :P

~Lizzie

I feel like blogging something...

2009-06-05T21:10:00.004-04:00

But unfortunately, I don't feel like I have much to say. I could announce that I FINALLY got to clean my room yesterday. But unless you saw the wreck that was my room, you won't care. The few of you that did see the catastrophe are probably rejoicing... and perhaps doubting that it actually happened.

I could also talk about my recital/performance/play/life schedule that starts tomorrow, but that usually gets boring... I suppose I could try it in a different format than usual though. If you don't want to know my schedule, then skip the bullet points. :P

Tomorrow: Dress rehearsal for You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown and the Lighthouse graduation (Sarah's playing in the band.)
Sunday: Possibly church, voice recital (eeeeek.)
Monday: Swimming, dance class picture day.
Tuesday: Dress rehearsal for dance recital
Wednesday: Just swimming... but it's not too late for something to get added...
Thursday: Again, just swimming... but I feel like there's going to be something else.
Friday: First performance of YAGMCB.
Saturday: Dance recital, second performance of YAGMCB.

I'm glad I wrote it out... if only for my own sake, because now I think maybe it isn't too awfully busy... the stress makes it feel pretty crazy though. I constantly think I'm forgetting something... or maybe SEVERAL somethings. :\

I've also been debating if I should do my own love/marriage/romance post inspired by Sarah (Garner's!!!!) wedding. It has set me on an interesting morsel of thought since last Saturday, but I can't decide if I want to try to make my thoughts coherent. Or if anyone would even want to read it if I did. (... just in case you didn't catch it, that's your cue to make your wishes known... ;) )

And now, I feel that there's something I should be doing... I must go try to not stress over whatever it might be.

Oh, and don't be surprised if I don't post for the next week. =D

~Lizzie

A Success!

2009-05-31T15:23:00.003-04:00

Sarah couldn't decide on what kind of cake she wanted (as I mentioned before) so I decided to brave the crockpot again and try a Chocolate Sundae Cake. I put it together and let it cook while we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. When we got home, I turned it off and let it cool for about a half hour and then we ate it with vanilla ice cream on top.

It turned out really good... I was so relieved.

It's a really interesting cake... it was basically just a chocolate cake batter (I think it'd be even better with chocolate chips added!) spread in the bottom of the crock pot, and then you mix sugar, cocoa power and hot water until smooth and pour it over the cake. When it finished cooking, the sauce was under the cake, and the cake was kinda floating! (And that wasn't my mistake, the recipe said it should end up that way...)

Sarah, enjoying the cake (her hair straightened with her new hair straightener...)

~Lizzie

The Year I was 15 - Pictures!!

2009-05-30T20:38:00.003-04:00

So I was gonna do a really long post on how sad it was that's I'll never be 15 again, and how I didn't really want to turn 16, and maybe a recap of how my life as a 15 year old was. But that inspiration only lasted about 5 minutes.
Then I suddenly had a much better idea! And so, I will post my favorite pictures that I took while I was 15, complete with titles/awards i.e: Happiest, cutest, best pose, coolest... etc.
I collected all my favorites, & there turned out to be 250-ish, so obviously, they're not all gonna be here. :)
Enjoy!

Happiest:

Mark & Aaron after some good defense

Prettiest:

Cherry flower

Cutest:

Aaron & Joel. Aww. :)

Randomest:

Bubba, the Italian trucker

Funniest:

A goofy group shot at Goodberrys

Coolest:

Sean playing baseball

Most Different:

A sunbow & power lines

Most Interesting:

A truck silhouetted against a sunset

Best Without People:

An orange sunset

Coolest Colors:

Bright blue & pink sunrise over the ocean

Coolest Focusing:

Wine glasses

Most Colorful:

Another run for the Hawks

Best Action Shot:

Jacob & Chris playing basketball

Best Portrait:

Joel at the beach

Best Light:

Shadow sitting in the sun

Best Pose:

Jordan & Reid after winning a close game

Most Candid:

Nathan & Jessica on the Sunfish

Most Descriptive:

A couple at the State Fair

Most Professional:

Reid playing basketball

Awesomest:

Eric playing basketball

Favorite of Me

me. :P

And 10 honorable mentions... ones I like just as much, but they just didn't get a title:

yay, there it is. I'm really thinking this should become a tradition for me... :)

Sarah's Sweet Sixteenth!

2009-05-29T09:33:00.003-04:00

She still hasn't decided what kind of cake she wants. Or what she wants to do...

:P

The beginnings of my attempt at flower gardening...

2009-05-28T10:49:00.003-04:00

As you may remember from this post that I started growing some flowers... here are the first blooms!

Several little moss roses...

I like the vibrant color...

This one is probably my favorite though. It's such a sweet pink...

These Johnny Jump Ups are cuter than I imagined! They are sooo tiny!

A little moss rose growing amongst rocks... and weeds that I didn't stop to pull. :P

Snapdragon just opening up (and still in a starter pot on the table... he needs to be planted...

And a bright orange Zinnia.

I'm really enjoying my flowers. And I'm really pleased with how well my camera took those shots. It's just a little camera (not at all like Sarah's professional monster of a camera) but it does really well.

It's a good thing I have my flowers to cheer me up, because my cooking skills continue to fail me. (Cooking skills? What cooking skills?) Yesterday I made a crockpot dish for an impromptu potluck/softball evening with some of our friends. I tried a new recipe from our Betty Crocker Slow Cooker Cookbook, "Lentil and Mixed-Vegetable Casserole." We had just opened a 5-gallon bucket of lentils, and we had everything else we needed, it looked very easy (as if cooking in a crockpot isn't easy enough anyway) and it even looked tasty! We had a lot of errands to run during the afternoon, so I could just let it cook while we were gone and then take it to the potluck.

I got it put together and ready to cook, but since we were going to be gone 3 to 4 hours, and it said to only cook it 2 to 2 1/2 hours, I turned it on for an hour before we left, kept it on "warm" while we were gone, and turned it back on to cook once we got home. It wasn't ready when it was time to leave (the lentils were still kinda crunchy) so I plugged it in to cook while we played softball. It still wasn't ready when it was time to eat. Daddy looked at it, and gently informed me that my lentils were actually split-peas, which is why they were taking so long.

Split peas.

Lentils.

I should know the difference! It's not like I've never had lentils or split peas before! I was told that the bucket was lentils, and I just didn't doubt it, or even use any intelligent brain waves on the consideration.

Mr. J kindly said that with another 30 minutes, my casserole would have been superb, Kara insisted that it tasted fine and Sarah said she liked the crunch. It was nice of them to say those things and I'm sure they meant them... but I thought it tasted like casserole with sand. And it needed more salt. Not to mention, it wouldn't have been too bad if they had at least been lentils... instead of split peas.

~Lizzie

uncontrollable laughter

2009-05-26T22:42:00.002-04:00

I really love driving my daddy's car. It's a 2001 Volvo S80 automatic turbo. I get to ride the automatic seat from Daddy's long-leg seat position to my very short position. I accelerate out of turns easily because the steering is soooo smooth. I stop for stop lights easily because the breaks are so responsive. And when I get on the interstate, the car accelerates to 70mph so quickly and gracefully... and then, at the end of the entrance ramp, there's a Chrysler minivan RIGHT next to me, who won't move because the driver is too busy talking on his cellphone! *sigh*

Voice, dance and theatre were fun today. Everything is finally falling into place. We know our dance, we have our dance costumes... almost everyone knows their lines for the play, except for people who got to go on exotic vacations (Greece?!?!? NOT FAIR!!!) or even just regular vacations.

You probably had to be there, but Mr. Green tweaked one of the scenes, and it was so funny, we all burst out laughing! And then they tried to run the scene again, and they couldn't even start the scene without everyone cracking up again! After many tries, they finally got through it without TOO much laughing. And then they ran it again about a half hour later, and before they got to the funny part, Mr. Green cracked up, and everybody lost it again. It's going to be HILARIOUS.
Anyone can come! It's at NRCA (7300 Perry Creek Rd. Raleigh, NC) Friday, June 12th, and Saturday, June 13th both at 7pm. Tickets are $5/student (18 & under) $7/adult. Sarah and I will be in the Friday show, but Kara will probably be in the Saturday show. I don't care if you come see me, just come to either show if you can. It'll be great.

~Lizzie

Breaking my fast

2009-05-25T08:18:00.002-04:00

It was a nice experiment, but I have voice, dance and two hours of theatre tomorrow, so I figured I should get back to eating so that I'll have normal amounts of energy and be able to concentrate for 4 hours straight. Plus stay awake. Also, I felt pretty toxic yesterday, and Daddy said that I probably needed to do a good cleanse before I try a fast again.

It was pretty cool though. I didn't feel hungry at all, although I think it was intolerably cruel of them to have my FAVORITE pasta last night for supper!! However, seeing food didn't make me hungry, but normal food looked like some kind of decadent delight that we never get to have. Just looking at Sarah's salad with croutons and caesar dressing looked a three-layer strawberry ice cream cake, or something equally delicious.

I lost 6 and a half pounds over two days of water-fasting, a day of juice and a day of raw fruits and veggies. Which is actually enough that I can wear the dress that has been a little small! I just don't know how long I'm going to keep the weight off once I start eating again. We'll see.

~Lizzie

Siccing the Praying Mantis on the pests...

2009-05-23T12:08:00.003-04:00

We have several little baby praying mantises that live on our seedling table (although the plants are desperately in need of planting now, and not really seedlings anymore... we're desperately trying to get them all planted!) but Mom found some odd little bugs on her eggplants... so we transferred a little praying mantis to the eggplant. We wanted to watch, but apparently he was kinda scared of us, and wasn't doing any hunting, so we left for a few seconds, and when we came back, he was holding one of the small green bugs in his... arms? Forelegs? Claws? ... whatever. Yeah. Those. It was really neat.

Also... some sad and slightly embarrassing news for me. The dress that I was so excited about making is not turning out well. It has odd pokes and bumps in very unfortunate places. The material isn't the best for the pattern design... and it's probably something I did wrong too, although I don't know what. It is a pretty easy pattern (maybe they skimped on parts that could have been harder, while looking more classy and smooth, to make it easier) and it went together pretty quickly, so I'm still hoping to fix it... but I don't really need it any more, because I found 2 cute dresses at Goodwill yesterday!! And I'm trying out water-fasting, so hopefully I'll lose enough weight to wear a third cute dress that has been hanging in my closet...

I was going to post pictures of them, but it's amazing how pathetic they look hanging on coat hangers... if anyone actually wants to see them, you may submit your request, and when/if I lose weight/fix a few things for them, then I might post pictures of me wearing them. =D

And this is my first day of just water. Daddy had decided to do a water-fast and on the second day of his preparations, I decided to jump in. All I've ever done before was a one-day water fast, and that was mostly because I didn't have much time to eat. In preparation, Daddy did a day of regular eating, but with no meat. Then we did a day of only raw fruits and vegetables. I had fruit juice for breakfast, a large apple for lunch and a huge salad with celery, bell pepper, tomatoes, black olives and sprouts for supper. The third day of prep was just juice. Strangely, I was more hungry yesterday than I am today.

It has been a very interesting experience so far. I slept better than usual last night, and woke up feeling very refreshed (which is unusual) but I have felt very slightly weak. Nothing to keep me from doing what I usually do, though, except, of course, vigorous exercise, like swimming or running.

~Lizzie

Rainy days and sewing corners...

2009-05-17T21:19:00.005-04:00

Today there was no 'making "hay" while the sun shone' because the sun did not shine... instead, I did some creativity indoors and FINALLY got started on my dress! After we went to see Star Trek at the movie theater... but that's a post for the review blog. Once I have time to mull over it a little.

And as I'm sure you all know, I could go on and on... about nothing much in particular. But instead, I'm going to end my little break and get back to my dress.

That's probably the shortest post I've ever done...

~Lizzie

I'm BACK!!

2009-05-10T23:03:00.006-04:00

I know, I didn't announce that I was leaving. Nor am I going to oblige you with a lengthy and juicy account of all the busy-ness that has kept me from posting for the last month. Hint: it was mostly baseball... baseball game on top of baseball game... and if there wasn't a game, there was a practice. All that on top of everything else I'm doing was too much. But the tournament was May 7th-9th, and now that I've recovered from the team losing, here I am, with PATTERNS!

I splurged on patterns today. I decided about a month ago that I wanted to make a really nice summer dress, because I have two weddings to go to, and my 18th birthday is coming up, so I thought it'd be nice to have a dress to wear to all 3 occasions. (Shh, don't tell I'm wearing it more than once!)

So you might be wondering why I said "patterns" plural. If you are, congratulations on being observant. And thanks for not assuming that I accidentally added the 's'. I got patterns because I couldn't decide which one I wanted, they were all on sale anyway, and the store was getting ready to close, so I didn't have time to decide.

I got Simplicity 2965:

I like the one in red, only they're all kinda short, so when I ever get around to making it, I'll make it longer.

Simplicity 2917:

Either the short sleeve, or the sleeveless.

New Look 6589:

I like the style of the black one, but I've got a plain soft yellow in mind for it that I borrowed from Mom's stash...

It's between this one and the next dress for the dress I'm going to try to make in 2 and a half weeks!

Vogue 8470:

I really like the white one, but I'll probably make the skirt a little shorter, because otherwise it takes FIVE yards! Which I don't have in the pretty yellow material.

And I really liked the Vogue 8489, but they didn't have it:

I like the green, but if I ever get to make it, I want to make it with the accent trim like the tan and brown.

And you're probably overwhelmed with patterns already, but I also got two apron patterns.

McCall's Retro aprons:

And M5358:

For this one, I'm planning on making view C (the lime green at the bottom) but with the tie and pocket in this green checkered, and the main part in the brown. And I also want to add a ruffle in the checkered material.

I was going to go ahead and cut the apron, but I got distracted and did this blog post instead... and now it's late, so I should just go to bed. Hopefully I'll have some "finished apron" pictures eventually!

Oh, and I made the cinnamon rolls Abigail mentioned here for Mother's Day. My icing didn't turn out right, (probably because I didn't want to use our entire bag of powdered sugar... and I didn't have any coffee) but the funny little clumps of sugar didn't dissuade my family. And I thought they turned out okay... next time they'll be better, though.

~Lizzie

Spring break again!

2009-04-08T15:37:00.005-04:00

And I was having an amazingly productive day cleaning the kitchen/dining room, but then, I was replacing floor protectors on our dining room chairs (which, for some reason, require hammering) and hit my thumb. I hit it from the top (don't ask how, I'm just excessively talented at injuring myself) bruised my thumb AND bent the fingernail backwards. So I immediately put an herbal salve on it and then tried to think of something I could do without using my left thumb. Typing was the only thing I could think of, so here is this more boring than usual blog post. And now I have nothing more to say... all my brain waves are in my thumb...

~Lizzie

Fragile dreams

2009-04-06T19:34:00.006-04:00

All my life so far, I've looked forward to when I would finally get married and have children. It has always been my goal. Ever since I was around 10, I have planned nearly every aspect of my the life I want to have once I'm married: the kind of house I want (a cute little farm house with space for a vegetable garden and extreme amounts of flowers), the way my days will go, how many children we'll have and how we'll train our children. So far I think the only thing I left entirely up to God was the man.

It was only recently that it hit me: perhaps I am naively imagining an impossible dream. I'm just a silly girl, gazing starry-eyed into a romantic fantasy that's unmarred by reality. Eventually, my shiny, happy future will shatter like a delicate glass into 10 million pieces. The disillusionment will cast a gray hue over all my broken plans and my former hopes will be a bright mockery of the cold, hard truth.

Or maybe not. Isn't there a chance that God has planned a Godly man of character to marry me? Is it impossible for me to be a firm, but gentle, loving and disciplining mother? Am I not capable of making a lovely home for my family? Is it too much to ask that my girls have a meek and quiet spirit, with gentle feminity? That my boys be strong leaders, kind and loving to their sisters and show honesty, diligence and intelligence in everything they do? Should I not hope to one day have a joyful, loving family with obedient and thankful children, led by a hard-working spiritual man?

Could there be a lovely, simple life in my future?

~Lizzie

My latest obsession is finally settled...

2009-04-03T12:53:00.002-04:00

So, just in case you didn't know, I had braces for 2 years and 5 months. I had REALLY crooked teeth. And just as an interesting trivia fact, I have no adult lower front first incisors. (Crazy long name, right?) The doctors were all VERY interested in my teeth. (They actually took pictures. That is never comforting...) When I finally got my braces off, the doctors told me, "Have a nice life... oh, and get your wisdom teeth out next summer." Well, "next" summer is now last summer, and I still haven't followed their orders. Fortunately, I only have 3 wisdom teeth. But they have decided to come in. I was hoping they'd just be a memory as little white blobs way down in my jaw on x-rays, but no such luck.

But then I happened to be looking over one of our herb remedy books (yeah, we're health nuts...) and noticed a calcium remedy. "Children with crowded teeth who must get wisdom teeth removed are deficient in Calcium." What?!? I'm deficient in Calcium? It's THAT easy? I went through 2 years and 5 months of braces for $5000 when all I needed was Calcium? *major sigh*

Now I'm taking Calcium. And hoping that at almost 18, I'm not too old for my jaw to get just a little bigger. But whatever happens, I'm NOT getting my wisdom teeth removed... *shudder*

~Lizzie

I survived April Fools...

2009-04-02T21:02:00.003-04:00

I had a rubber spider placed on my shoulder (twice... I only screamed the first time) and a rubber snake (after the rubber spider, so I was not disturbed). Then when I got home, Sarah did the tape measure trick on me. Background: we once had a tape measure (you know, the yellow kind that roll up into a tape-measure-holder) that came out of its tape-measure-holder. If you roll it up, and place it under something heavy, it will stay in place until some unsuspecting victim picks up whatever is holding it in place. And then it will explode with a very startling noise. Sarah pinched it in the crack of the door (an amazing feat) leading to my room so that when Victoria and I got back, and pushed the door open to go into my room, it jumped at us. We screamed at exactly the same time.

And David tried a bunch of silly jokes ("Hey, Lizzie, it's raining! April Fools!" "Hey, Lizzie, Daddy's here! April Fools!")

I only participated in one joke, and it basically failed... tried to convince Allie that Jess was courting a guy (that Jess made up). No luck.

Oh, and here's an interesting quiz.

~Lizzie

AHH! It hurts...

2009-03-26T15:52:00.002-04:00

Can you hear it? Oh, it's like fingernails on a chalkboard... only worse. Daddy likes to play it and watch my face contort in agony. =P

Created by Train Horns

The Homeschooled Review

2009-03-23T20:56:00.002-04:00

I started a review blog! I decided that I should because I do so many reviews on here, and I actually would like to do more, but I always think that I do too many as it is. Especially since I get so many complaints for my negative reviews... and lots of my reviews are.

So anyway, this is the address: thehomeschooledreview.blogspot.com

If you would like to write to it, just check out the guidelines I posted in the introductory post. Yes, that is an obvious ploy to get you to look at the blog. And also save me typing it all out again. Or just copying and pasting it...

I'm excited!

~Lizzie

The Way We Live Now

2009-03-22T11:41:00.000-04:00

I know I've gotten complaints before about my negative reviews. But I figured out why I prefer negative reviews: I like to give spoilers when I review, and out of respect for the movies I really like, I avoid spoilers. For movies that disgust me, I have no scruples spoiling the plot for two reasons; out of spite for the movie, and in confidence that no one would want to see the movie after I share the spoiler. So with that said...

"The Way We Live Now" was horrible. I'm sorry to say it about an Andrew Davies movie, but there it is. It was an interesting movie, I have to give it that, but the ending is such that you just think, "Wow, I just blew 5 hours of time that I could have spent watching the long version of Pride and Prejudice instead."

There are several interwoven plot lines. First, there's the young lady, Henrietta, who lives in England with a mother somewhat like Mrs. Bennet and a jerk brother (played by Matthew MacFadyen! Mr. Darcy! I'll never be able to watch the new Pride and Prejudice again. Ever). She "falls in love at first sight" with her cousin's ward, Paul (who's in charge of the construction of a railway in America). Paul "loves" her too, and her cousin, Mr. Carbury, is also in love with her. So the two men are at odds because they both want to marry her. Paul has a problem though: he's already engaged to an American woman.

Henrietta's brother, Felix, is a gambler and a cad. He has a woman he flirts with in the the country, and a rich woman in the city that he wants to marry, but only for her money. The woman in the country has a good man who wants to marry her, but she won't marry him because she thinks she's in love with Felix. And the woman in the city, Miss Melmotte, is starved for love and rather odd, and falls head over heels for Felix. Her father, Mr. Melmotte, is a greedy, rich Frenchman who is heading the board for Paul's railway. But Mr. Melmotte doesn't actually intend to BUILD a railway, he just wants to get people to buy the stock and then take all their money.

So. Felix proposes to Miss Melmotte, and tries to get her father's consent. He will NOT consent, because Felix gambled away all his money and is basically penniless, and Mr. Melmotte could get much richer men for his daughter. Miss Melmotte tries to convince Felix to run away with her, because she really loves him, but he only wants the money that she won't get unless she marries with her father's blessing and will not run away until she mentions that she has a lot of money of her own. She steals some money for a train ticket and ship passage, which he spends gambling and getting drunk. While he slouches off home to his mother (who dotes on him in a sickening way) she is trying to meet him. But she is "arrested" for stealing, and taken back to her father, who won't allow her to see Felix. Miss Melmotte manages to get a note to Felix's sister, Henrietta, who delivers the note to her brother and then returns with his message to Miss Melmotte: "he is giving her up. He doesn't love her, and never did." Miss Melmotte is heartbroken.

Paul tries to convince his fiancee, Mrs. Hurtle, to release him so he can ask Henrietta to marry him, but she refuses, and claims that he cannot break the engagement because "only the woman can dissolve an engagement." Finally, she tells him that if he spends one more night with her and takes her to the beach before he goes to Mexico (to oversee the railway) then when he comes back he can choose the woman he really wants. While they're at the beach, they run into Mr. Carbury, who is none too pleased to see his competition in company with another woman after all the trouble that Paul took to "steal" Henrietta from him.

Felix's country woman comes to the city to marry him, but he has no intention of marrying her. He just uses her for a little fun, putting her off about getting married, "Oh, of course, sometime..." He finally blurts out that he never intended to marry her, and she storms off. He chases her, and just then, the good man that STILL wants to marry her shows up and lays Felix flat with one punch. (That was good! Best part of the whole movie!)

Paul comes back from his trip and asks Henrietta to marry him, and she accepts. But Felix knows about Mrs. Hurtle and when Henrietta announces her engagement, he tells her the whole story. She talks to Paul and he tells her that he was trying to break everything off with Mrs. Hurtle, and that he thought it was already over between them when Mrs. Hurtle showed up in England claiming otherwise. Then Henrietta visits Mrs. Hurtle, and Mrs. Hurtle leads her to believe that she and Paul are still involved. So she breaks off the engagement.

Paul finally finds out about the railway scam, and leaks to the newspapers. Mr. Melmotte is ruined and commits suicide. Miss Melmotte, however, is still rich from the money in her own name that she refused to share with her father and goes off to live her life, hardened by Felix's betrayal.

Mrs. Hurtle comes to see Henrietta and confesses that she deceived Henrietta, and that Paul had been faithful to her, at least for the past 2 years. Henrietta still refuses to forgive him. He stops by one last time before he leaves for a second railway opportunity, and she hides on the stairwell while he give her mother all sorts of "I'll always love her" and "I wish her the best" messages. And then he leaves. And she runs after him. And we can only hope they live happily ever after.

And the last shot you see is Felix, with a new conquest in sight.

Miss Melmotte should have found someone to really love her, Henrietta should have married Mr. Carbury, Paul should have been devastated and gone crawling back to Mrs. Hurtle, Mr. Melmotte should have been put in jail instead of the escape of suicide, and Felix should have been left miserable in some way. Or at least shaped up and acting like a man. I didn't like it. At all.

However, the filming was spectacular, the acting was very good and if you don't mind a more "real life" kind of ending, then it's a pretty good movie. Personally, it left me feeling disgusted. But maybe that's just me.

~Lizzie

First Day of Spring Eve

2009-03-19T11:46:00.006-04:00

It feels like Spring... really like Spring. Not like "Oh, it's 75 degrees outside in the middle of winter, gosh, this is like Spring already" fake Spring, but real Spring! Even when it started raining in the middle of our baseball game, it still felt like Spring. And I'm so ready for it.

I got a few flower seeds out shopping about a month ago, and yesterday, Mom got me a starter tray and lots more seeds! So I've got a nice start of six pods for each different kind of flower.

You can see the row of seeds that are uncovered... I didn't know that there were seeds that aren't supposed to be covered. But apparently Achillea (or Yarrow) seeds need light to germinate.

So all the seeds I have in my tray are Achillea, Snapdragons, African Daisies, Forget-me-nots, Carnations, Moss Roses, Black-eyed Susans, Shasta Daisies (like the boy in "The Horse and His Boy! Shasta... I wonder if that's where C. S. Lewis got it. I think it's a good girl's name. :P ), Johnny Jump Ups, Salvia, and two rows of Zinnias. And then I have two kinds of Sunflowers, Lupine, Foxglove and Nasturtium to plant directly in the ground sometime in late April.

And Mom just got the book "Lasagna Gardening" at Goodwill. I'm so excited about starting my flower gardens with the "lasagna" technique! And for those of you that know our front yard... don't you think it'd be nice to have a big gazebo surrounded by flowers in the middle of our front yard? (We have a pretty big, nearly empty front yard.) Vines of Moonflowers growing up the sides of the gazebo, surrounded by all kinds of flowers... and especially a rosebush or two... *sigh* I think it would be lovely. Now to get Daddy and the boys to build the gazebo... :D

Holding on for 3rd

2009-03-15T13:43:00.002-04:00

And Middleschool and JV lost their games for 3rd place also. We left to come home after the JV game; Daddy decided that we wouldn't stay for the Varsity game, much to Sarah's dismay. (I was ready to come home, except I would have liked to have seen the game too. I just didn't want to hang out in VA for another 4 hours waiting and then have to drive home in the middle of the night.)

So SOME one was supposed to call us if Varsity won the game for 3rd place last night (*cough, cough*) but didn't, so we assumed that they lost too. (It's okay, someone. We forgive you and the other someone who probably won't read this.) But then Daddy found on the internet this morning that we won! I wish the game had been earlier in the day so we could have watched it.

I'm so glad that they got 3rd at least. We needed SOMETHING. Everyone was so disappointed, winning the 3rd place trophy for Varsity is comforting.

~Lizzie

Sitting in a hotel room...

2009-03-13T22:53:00.003-04:00

And for the third time today, we sat in horrified and stunned silence, watching the other team scream, jump around and wildly celebrate their victory. The semi-finals at the East Coast Homeschool Basketball Championship and we lost. And lost. And lost again.

Middleschool and JV had to play at exactly the same time (for the second time in the tournament) and Middleschool lost a close game just 2 minutes before JV lost an even closer game. They played well, and it was SO close both the games, but the other teams just pulled it out.

Then for Varsity, we played the Forsyth Hawks. The same team we just beat two weeks ago for the State Championship. They intercepted at least a dozen of our passes, got most of the rebounds and played a really awesome game. One of our guys was injured pretty bad (got kicked in the knee and then fell on the same knee). We hung on, and were down 3, had the ball, tried and missed a 3, got the rebound and then they intercepted another pass. They went down, made a lay-up and buzzer.

Our Varsity was the defending East Coast Champions, and I really think they should have had the title again. Of course, I would, being a loyal fan. But we beat them for the State tournament! We CAN beat them! Our guys were a little upset about the seeding. Apparently it was done by how many points you won your qualifying games by, so we got seeded 3rd, instead of 1st. If we'd been first seed we would have had an easy game and made it to the Championship.

It's a real bummer. Our whole teams/fans group is just moping around now. It could have been a great week. It's surprising what a few sad basketball games can do.

~Lizzie

Spring break!!

2009-03-08T17:14:00.007-04:00

This past Thursday was the last day of swimming for a whole week... which I unfortunately missed because I managed to get the cold that the rest of my family already had. *frown* So anyway, we're going up to VA for the East Coast Homeschool Basketball Championship and won't go back to swimming until March 17 (3 days before our meet! Yikes!) and besides getting sick for the break, I tried fake plastic fingernails for the first time in my life (because now I can actually wear them for more than a couple days before they fall off in the pool or get ripped off [ouch] playing water polo) and got my second set of ear piercings (because I've been wanting them and now they'll have a chance to heal before I go back to swimming... funny how it all relates to swimming...). No need to deride me, my brothers have already adequately criticized my "stupid" fingernails and earrings. And sadly, even Sarah thinks my second piercings are "gaudy" and the fingernails "really look fake." Mom likes both (she did the piercings... don't worry, she's a nurse) and Daddy hasn't said much either way, besides consenting to both.

I'm not sure what I think of the fingernails. I think they look pretty good, besides being a little shiny, and with very white tips. I like how they tap on the keyboard and flat, hard surfaces... but it's really hard to grab things!

Pardon how weird I look. I'm sick, I can't help it. I suppose I could have waited until I looked normal, but I felt like doing this post today.

I've really enjoyed spending yesterday and today outside, it's SO nice and warm! And so obliging of it to be warm when I'm sick! The only thing worse than just being sick is being sick and COLD.

State Tournament pics

2009-03-06T09:50:00.007-05:00

Lizzie's already told y'all all about what happened, so I'm just gonna add some pictures of it.

The JV game.

#2 in the state!

Anna & Lizzie

Varsity starting five

tip off

#1 in the state!!

haha

The All-Tournament Team

Adam, Devin, Nick & Anna with the trophy

Anna, Kara & the trophy

Most of the girls and the trophy. :)

So, there y'all go. Congrats, Hawks!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!

2009-03-01T14:31:00.007-05:00

Our Varsity boys won the NCHE State Basketball tournament!! And our JV boys got 2nd!! We drove up to Greensboro last night to watch them play. The games were sooooo tense.

JV should have won... the game was really close until the end, when the refs made 3 really bad calls, and the other team made their free throws. The guys were so disappointed, but 2nd is good!! They just knew that they deserved to win... that makes it so much worse. If it had been a lucky break that they made 2nd, then they would have been happy. That was pretty frustrating.

Our Varsity opponent apparently expected to beat us... Before the game, Sarah overheard two of the moms from the other team talking about how easy the game was going to be. It was pretty close for most of the game. We were down by about 10 at one point, and the other team was down by about 20 at another point, but at the end we went into TWO overtimes. At the end of the 4th quarter we were up, and then the other team got the ball, went down and made a shot RIGHT before the buzzer. But at the end of the second overtime, we beat them by 4 points.

I considered trying to take pictures for about one millisecond, but dismissed that idea because in my anxiety, I probably would have destroyed my camera... if I didn't crush it with my bare hands, I would have dropped it, slung it onto the court or at the very least cracked someone in the head with it. Anyway, Sarah took pictures, and she's going to put them on here once she's finished putting them on Facebook...

And of course, we went out to eat afterward to celebrate. We were going to go to Chili's, but they couldn't seat us all together, so we went across the street to Ham's.

They wrote "Hawks" on a napkin for a banner... isn't it great??

The little kids... except for Anna. Don't worry, Anna, we know you were just supervising.

We took up a whole section... this is almost all of the "kids."

A picture of some of the G's... but, Mr. G, where did you go? He *was* in the picture... Oh well. A good picture of the G girls.

Looking at pictures on a camera.

We left the restaurant at about 1 am to drive all the way home... we got home at 2:30 am.

Congratulations guys, you did it!!! w00t!!

~Lizzie

Humph.

2009-02-26T22:08:00.003-05:00

Well, I had something I was going to write about. And I can't remember what it was, and I asked Sarah (because she was there when I decided to write about whatever it was) and she said that she can't remember either, but whatever it was, it was boring. *pouts*

Ah! I just thought of something to rant about. First, look at this link (Warning: creepy and gross): Link... Have you looked? Don't read on until you looked and really studied the picture. And read the description. That's important too. If you're still reading and you thought you could get away without looking at the article, you were wrong!

Okay, everyone read it now? And looked at the picture? Good.

Oh, MY, GOSH!!!! That has GOT to be the WORST book to ever be written! Quick, enjoy the last month and a half before publication, when life as we know it will suddenly become 10 times worse! AHHHHH!!!!! It's sacrilege! It's indescribably awful! How can you combine ZOMBIES, of all the most childish, stupid, horrific and idiotic fantastical creatures, with something as classic, genteel, well-written and beyond amazing as Pride and Prejudice? It's malicious! Ooooh. *shudders*

I'm so disgusted.

~Lizzie

Healthy??

2009-02-18T23:42:00.003-05:00

Manfred Muller, a homeopathic nutritionalist, visited our Radical Wednesday group tonight. This is the second time he's visited, and it's always very interesting. This time, he mentioned quite a bit about how cell phone, microwaves, nuclear plants and mercury are so hard to avoid and so harmful. I always thought we were pretty healthy. As I was sitting here eating my extra-large helping of dessert (that didn't get served at the meeting because it went too late) I was thinking how it's entirely organic. It has lots of sugar, but it's organic, evaporated cane juice. We use healthy toothpaste, shampoo, lotion and gum. But we can't avoid the mercury and all the other toxins in the air. And, on top of that, Mr. Muller reminded us that even organic foods can get pesticides and other harmful things from run-off, and mercury in the rain.

It seems that it's completely impossible to avoid harmful things. Sometimes it makes me want to give up entirely and just eat whatever I want. I like soft drinks (with carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and "natural flavoring" -- which is supposedly MSG), and tons of other things that are so laden with toxic substance that you just kinda want to NEVER eat any food again. But if I'm constantly breathing mercury and many other horrible things, why shouldn't I just go into denial, eat what I want and have a pleasant short life, instead of a long, paranoid and yucky-tasting one?

What really bothers me is that if I really want to be healthy, the first thing I should probably do is stop saturating myself with chlorine for 2 - 2 1/2 hours 3 times a week. That can't be good. But I love swimming, and it's such a nice way to keep in shape.

*sigh* I was happy eating organic foods... wasn't it good enough that we hardly ever went out to eat? Now we'll probably never eat out again. I don't know if I'd even want to. The thought makes me sick. But I recovered quickly enough from the last health-oriented Wednesday meeting. Much more quickly than I should have...

~Lizzie

Broadway is losing it!!

2009-02-16T20:48:00.003-05:00

What do you think of when someone mentions Broadway? I think of "Wicked" and "West Side Story." "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King" (even though I'm kinda undecided about the respectability of those two). And, my ultimate, all-time favorite, "Phantom of the Opera." "Shrek the Musical"?? NO!! No, no, no, no, no!!!! The stupidest children's movie ever! How about "Monsters Inc" or "Toy Story"? Both of which would be bad enough on Broadway! Intelligent people do NOT pay $85 - $135 (just a guesstimate) for a CHILD'S show! Are you going to take little Johnny and Emily up to NYC and pay more than $500 to let them see something they won't even appreciate? Are YOU going to want to see a "baby" Broadway show?

Jessica told me about Shrek going on Broadway at swimming (was it last week?) and we were disgusted enough then. Jessica, you need to look at the Broadway listings. Decent shows (like Phantom) are the MINORITY. Guess what else I found is on Broadway? "You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush" starring Will Ferrel. Are you KIDDING me?!?!?

The final blow: Phantom is going OFF Broadway.

Broadway, you have officially lost ALL my respect and the respect of every decent American who still knows what a good show is. You have crumbled under the pressure to dumb down and become nothing better than extremely expensive mind-congealing TV muck on a stage. And by the way, what in the WORLD were you thinking with Ariel's costume for "The Little Mermaid"?

Well, I was going to post a picture so those of you who may not have The Little Mermaid videos on YouTube could understand what I was talking about. But I guess I'll have to post a video. *huge sigh* Like those instruction manuals that warn that toasters are hot, I feel compelled to mention that her top consists of two, um... shells.

And now after watching that video, I have another rant. First of all, I can't believe that they twisted the story so that SHE is the one who saves the day and that the actress says it's important in our day and age. I would say that our day and age makes it MUCH MORE important that the MAN still be the hero. And secondly, I always have and always will hate the line in that song, "maybe on land, they understand, that they don't reprimand their daughters... bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand..." She is not bright; she's disobedient and... and I don't remember the story very well, but she deserves a lot more than a reprimand. So there.

~Lizzie

First Attempt at Flower Arranging

2009-02-14T18:28:00.004-05:00

Mom brought me some flowers home from Costco today, because she knows I've been dying to try my hand at arranging flowers, and unfortunately, there's nothing of the flower variety to be found outside around our house yet.

I've never really tried to arrange flowers before because I had no idea how to go about it. All the arrangements I tried as a child (with dandelions and buttercups) never turned out like I wanted. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with my first official attempt.

I wish the greenery didn't stick out quite so much, but that's the way it grew, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I waited until it was getting dark out to take the pictures, and the "Available Light" setting my camera kinda makes it look black and white...

But it's kind of blurry without flash. And the flash looked bad.

I love roses!

I really enjoyed arranging these flowers, so I'm going to try to do it more often, and maybe get some more ideas (I got some ideas from Trina's blog), definitely collect some more vases (from Goodwill and yard sales) and hopefully start my own flower garden this year.

~Lizzie

In Honor of Valentine's Day: My Take on Love

2009-02-13T00:02:00.006-05:00

I love a lot of people: God, my family, my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, and all the people in the world. And someday, I hope to love one special someone that God has planned for me.

So anyway, I've been thinking about WHY I love people. I came up with several side reasons, which I will share for your benefit.

I love God because He loved me enough to send His son to die for me (and also, being three-in-one), died for me, and now lives inside me.

I love my family because when you're stuck with people long enough, you eventually decide love is easiest form of coping. (Just kidding! I love you guys because of all your special traits, and because you tolerate me better than anyone else! :P Okay, I'm incapable of being serious... let's leave it at, I love you guys because I do. Don't worry, I'm getting to a point.)

I love my friends because they're my friends. (Yeah, I'm going with simplicity. Don't be offended. I command you.)

I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, not only because the Bible commands us to love one another, but because we share a common bond in our love for God.

I love the people in the world because I believe "neighbor" ("love your neighbor as yourself") means anyone living on this earth.

And it hit me, that I chose to love all those people. True, I have my reasons. I have reasons that I love my family better than the random person on the street. But it isn't an uncontrollable emotion like a puffy pink cloud that can dissipate or turn into a rain cloud. And that's the difference between the love of a Christian (who has Christ's capacity for love "He first loved us" and "while we were yet sinners, He died for us") and the love of someone who "falls" in and out of love, and might not know any kind of love except love of self and romantic "love" (if it could even be called such).

This is a new idea for me, and I'm sorry if my thoughts are confusing. I'm trying.

I think on most levels, choosing to love isn't too difficult for most Christians to accept. God commanded us to love everyone, to love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, to love and respect our parents. And you choose to love them by your actions, even when you may not feel a mushy love feeling (which is how you CAN love people all the time. Everyone knows you can't force the warm and fluffy feeling).

But, for some reason, I lose people when I talk about one day choosing to love my husband. You see, I'm not waiting to fall in love with a guy; I'm waiting until God shows me a man that is a God-fearing Christian of maturing character, that I can respect and honor, and who will love me as Christ loves the church. I don't have to fall in love with him, because once God says he's the one, I will choose to love him. I suppose this sounds very cold and unromantic to some people, but I've realized that on some level, you choose who you "fall in love" with, even if you don't realize it. Personally, I think it's more romantic to deliberately choose to love someone for the rest of your life, instead of just uncontrollably "falling" in love with someone. Love that is fallen into is shallow and easy to lose. Intentional love is serious and true, and models the love that God has for us.

Love is patient (telling your brother for the fourth time in a perfectly calm voice that his shoes are actually where they're supposed to be, which is why he can't find them under the couch)

Love is kind (doing the dishes, even though it's not your turn, because everyone else is busy)

It does not envy (even though your little sister has loads of talent in all areas and you don't)

It does not boast (even though you might have actually accomplished something noteworthy!)

It is not proud (unless you're proud of someone else. ;) )

It is not rude (even though that lady ahead of you is in the express checkout with WAY more than 10 items, and you just need to buy this container of ice cream that is freezing your hands off)

It is not self-seeking (which means that you know your friend would really like an ice cream sandwich, so you give her the last one, even though you'd been dreaming about it for the past 2 hours)

It is not easily angered (whether or not you just overheard someone tell a blatant lie about you)

It keeps no record of wrong (which means that you forgive the person who told that lie about you, and then get over it)

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth (Okay, this is the end of the examples...)

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

(And for the record, all of my examples were fictional. Don't get any saintly or unsaintly ideas about me from them...)

By the way, I actually don't like Valentine's Day. I think (and if you haven't gotten this point yet, you need to reread my post) that you should show your love all the time, and Valentine's Day is just another day for Hallmark, candy stores, flower shops and jewelry salesmen to make more money.

Here's to real love, every day, all the time. Especially when you don't feel it.

~Lizzie

Yay for spring-like weather in February!

2009-02-12T08:00:00.003-05:00

If this is global warming, bring it on! Who cares if the polar ice caps are melting? (Okay, just kidding...)

This lovely weather was just what I needed to boost my spirits. I'm definitely a spring person. I like a little snow because it's pretty, but cold and shivering for too long drives me crazy. I love being outside with warm air and cool breezes.

Oh, and I was so excited! We had sparkling bubbles in the pool yesterday! They're usually just boring bubbles, but yesterday they were all sparkly and kinda rainbow colored. It was so cool! Alex was saying she wished we had underwater cameras so we could take a picture of it, but that it probably wouldn't look the same in the picture. And that made me realize something kind obvious that I'd never really thought about before... pictures are never the same as being there because you don't feel the same as when you took the picture. It probably has something to do with cameras not being as awesome as the eyes God gave us, but I think it's also because you just aren't there. For example, even if I could show you a picture, you probably wouldn't understand why we were excited about sparkly bubbles. But if you were swimming in a somewhat dark pool (because half the lights are off for some odd reason) and you're in the middle of a monotonous set of backstroke and you're kind of bored, and kind of tired and you roll to do your flip turn and see sparkly bubbles, suddenly you're just happy. Or maybe you're not. If you're a guy you might not care about sparkly bubbles at all. But it made Alex and me happy...

What does it sound like to you if a swim coach asks if you want to play a game called "Go Down 4 Times, Come Up 3"? (Don't answer if you heard this yesterday...)

~Lizzie

It has been requested...

2009-02-09T18:37:00.002-05:00

and now will be fulfilled... however unsatisfactorily. A new blog post...

Last week, I did school. This week, I'm doing school.

The end.

Just kidding.

Unfortunately, my life has been somewhat uneventful, and there isn't much bloggy fuel. We've had so many basketball games that they all run together in my head, and I can't say more than that Middleschool lost today, and JV and Varsity won. I don't remember how the games Saturday went. That's how bad my memory is. Swimming has been normal. My water polo team won both our games Wednesday. School is school, and I hardly have time to get it done. Voice is getting harder, I have a song that's pretty high for me, and I can't get up high enough on command, so I'm working on that. Dance is fun. Theatre is cool. We don't have the play cast yet.

I've been feeling kind of subdued recently, which could be why I haven't come up with anything to write about (yeah, my life is usually uneventful, just the same things over and over. Which is nice, sometimes). I have my posts where I'm in the "depths of despair" and all I do is whine. And then I have posts where I'm feeling happy and somewhat hyper and I just talk.

Subdued is a new feeling for me. I'm not depressed, sad or angry, but I'm not exactly happy either. I'm just listless.

I made bicuits to go with soup for supper yesterday, and they turned out better than I've ever had biscuits do (biscuits are so awful for me. Sarah's usually turn out lovely, and I just have no natural cooking skill) and I was pleased that they turned well, so I tried them again tonight. And they weren't as good at all. But they have progressed well enough that my brothers still complained that I didn't make enough. That's always comforting.

I've also gotten it into my head that I would like to make a quilt. I have never made a quilt before in my life, but all of a sudden I just want to try one. But I've decided to put it off until I get a collection of material from other, smaller projects. I hardly have time for homey projects though, with all the time we spend running all over the place.

And it's also starting to get to me that I'm going to be 18 in early June. Every since I was 10 or so, I looked forward to 18 as the age where I would probably have everything together, have become the person I wanted to be and be at the beginning of the next stage of my life. But here I am, with only 3 and a half months to go, and nothing is together, I'm nowhere near the person I want to be, and I don't see my life changing any time soon. I'm very much afraid that 18 is going to be just as disappointing as every new age always was. I always hoped that "13 will FEEL different! There's just something about 13..." Now I know that mental change happens slowly, and doesn't have that much to do with age.

I think I've exhausted everything I could think to write about. I'm sorry, Abigail, this was pretty dreary, and probably not what you had in mind... :)

~Lizzie

Memory skillz

2009-02-02T21:38:00.004-05:00

I used to be able to recall almost any interesting circumstance in the past 2 years or so with certainty. Someone could mention something that someone said at such and such a day, and I could say, "Oh yeah, so and so said..." and proceed to relate the entire conversation, who was there and what we doing. And then my friends would look at me as if I'd just played back a hologram video like R2-D2 does in Star Wars.

It's not that I cared that I was being compared to a droid from an unrealistic space movie. I didn't try to stop remembering so well. But somehow I did, and my memory is reduced to recalling adults first names (despite always calling them "Mr. ____" and "Mrs. ____" and only hearing their first names once or twice) and random telephone numbers.

Someday I'll probably be a parent asking MY child "What's so-and-so's mom's name?" and asking for someone's telephone number. Hopefully by then I will have forgotten my own former memory skills or else it will be very frustrating for me.

Actually, it's already frustrating. What WERE we doing when that person had an opportunity to say whatever it was that they said? And what was it that they said, and why was it so funny???

*sigh*
~Lizzie

Superbowl XLIII

2009-02-01T23:02:00.007-05:00

I'm not a huge football fan (this was the first game I watched this year), but I do enjoy the superbowl. It's always nice to have a good excuse to eat tons of junk food, drink soft drinks, go crazy and shriek like a maniac. And I always enjoy watching commercials that are apparently worth millions of dollars. This year, the minimum was 3 million for 30 seconds.

However, this year I was actually cheering for a team. Just a combination of liking Kurt Warner, and somehow acquiring a dislike for the Steelers (despite never watching games... need to reconsider that one). I'm not going to describe my feelings during the game because I don't know any of the terms (I know touchdown! hehe... he. Heh. Never mind) so I'll just say, if you don't know, the Cardinals lost, and I am sad.

The commercials were also sadly disappointing. For at least a third of them we had to take regular breaks to check the weather (oooh, the temperature is steadily dropping AFTER NIGHTFALL and the doppler is totally clear. Amazing) and the acceptable ones were generally boring.

The career builder one was my favorite. I was seriously laughing. Sadly though, it doesn't seem that funny now.

This is Jessica and David waving cell phones during the halftime show... like all the people in the stadium were.

It was a lot of fun. Even if the Cardinals did lose. I guess I really don't have a right to care since I didn't follow the games all season.

Happy February!

~Lizzie

Mansfield Park...s. All of them.

2009-01-29T21:04:00.004-05:00

I have now seen all three versions of Mansfield Park, and having also read the book, I am qualified in my opinion of the book having never been done anything close to justice in movie form. The version that came closest is fairly old, with bad coloring, horribly unattractive characters and a Fanny that rather annoyed me. Then there was the newest version aired on TV with slightly more attractive actors and actresses, but not as close to the book as the old version (which, despite it's other faults, was certainly diligent in following Jane Austen's storyline). And then there's the version we just watched tonight. Besides the fact that I have a lingering annoyance for Frances O'Connor from her performance in "The Importance of Being Earnest," the screen writer managed to mutilate Fanny's character enough by herself. Not to mention obviously being a feminist and mutilating the entire movie.

I wish Andrew Davies would do a Mansfield Park. He's done my favorite versions of "Sense and Sensibility," and "Pride and Prejudice," and I really liked "Northanger Abbey," "Bleak House," "Wives and Daughters," and "Emma." (Although my favorite version of "Emma" is still the one with Gwyneth Paltrow.) If only he would do "Persuasion" and "Mansfield Park" then one could have an entire Jane Austen movie collection that are almost equal to her novels.

There is hope...

~Lizzie

Gossip and Flirting

2009-01-25T19:57:00.006-05:00

Some sins are obvious, and very black and white. At least in the Christian understanding. Or maybe I should just say that they've always appeared so to me. For example, I've always known that any sort of deception was a lie, and little white lies are still lies. Stealing, even if it was just an M&M from a sibling, is still stealing. And so on, and so forth. But two sins I've never quite figured out (and some might say that flirting isn't a sin anyway, but for the purposes of my discussion let's just assume it is).

I will start with gossip. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines "gossip" as:
Function: noun
2 a: rumor or report of an intimate nature

To relate sometimes questionable or secret information of a personal nature
Synonyms: blab, talk, tattle
Related Words: bandy (about), circulate, noise (about), rumor; disclose, divulge, reveal, tell; hint, imply, insinuate, intimate, let on, suggest; inform, report, snitch, squeal, tip (off); babble, spill; confide

A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret. - Proverbs 11:13

A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends. - Proverbs 16:28

A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man (or woman, naturally) who talks too much. - Proverbs 20:19 (parentheses mine)

Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down. - Proverbs 26:20

My dad has told me that gossip is "saying something negative about a person for the purpose of lowering that person in other people's opinion."

The four Bible verses I have shared say that a gossip "betrays a confidence" (twice), "separates close friends" and "without gossip a quarrel dies down."

So, using all that information above, my conclusion is lengthy. Gossip is anything:
Maliciously negative
Betraying a confidence (secret)
Causing a division between friends
Fueling a quarrel
Questionable of a personal nature

You really have to use a measure of your own discretion, and in cases such as these it is certainly better to err on the side of silence.

Flirting has been more difficult for me to determine for myself, and is certainly something that is harder to conclude.

Once again, the Merriam-Webster definition:
Flirting
function: verb
2 a: to behave amorously without serious intent: to show superficial or casual interest or liking

To show a liking for someone of the opposite sex just for fun
Synonyms: dally, frivol, trifle
Related Words: josh, kid, put on, razz, rib, tease; fool, lead on, string along; play (with), toy (with)

The LORD says, "The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles." - Isaiah 3:16

My dad has told me that I should just treat guys like I would any friend, and as nothing more. But I've always wondered if teasing a guy is flirting, even if I would say the same thing to a girl? According to Merriam-Webster "tease" is a related to flirting (see above), but is that all sorts of teasing, or a particular kind? To emphasize my point, here is the definitions of "tease."

3 a: to disturb or annoy by persistent irritating or provoking especially in a petty or mischievous way
b: to annoy with petty persistent requests
c: to persuade to acquiesce especially by persistent small efforts
d: to manipulate or influence as if by teasing
e: to make fun of
5: to tantalize especially by arousing desire or curiosity often without intending to satisfy it

Number five, when arousing an impure "desire or curiosity", is obviously part of the more evil type of flirting, but what about all the others? I enjoy employing a bit of harmless and kindly-meant teasing every now and then, especially with my friends who take it well.

I guess what I've been trying to do with this post is figure out for myself what I think is wrong and right. I believe I have never said anything that could be construed as flirtatious or gossipy that I wouldn't have my parents hear, but sometimes I wonder if I merely comfort my guilt with that thought, instead of considering if my behavior really meets God's approval.

You may be wondering that I didn't come to a conclusion about flirting, and that is because I am still pondering it. But my final thought is that what mostly constitutes gossip and flirting comes from your heart, and if your heart is pure and listening to God, then pure behavior will naturally follow, even if your purity looks different from someone else's.

I'm not sure why I'm sharing all this. I guess I'm just one of those people who makes any musing or thought public in hopes that someone will offer encouraging advice, constructive criticism, or possibly, even gain some insight for themselves. If nothing else, writing it all out has certainly helped me organize my thoughts, and I would love hearing anything my readers have to say.

~Lizzie

New Year’s Goals

2009-01-23T11:46:00.003-05:00

These are just some things that I’ve been wanting to do. Hopefully they will be much more satisfying than my usual New Year’s Resolutions; which are generally made at 1 o’clock in the morning on New Year’s day while high on chocolate, sugar, caffeine and running on adrenaline, and then dropped after a week of attempting whatever it was. Like, crunches every day. That was a really bad idea. Probably inspired by the insane amount of food I had consumed over the holidays.

Goals have two main differences from resolutions for me. My resolutions are usually something that I HAVE to do every day, or the resolution fails, while goals are either a one-time accomplishment, or something that I want or need to do and can keep working at, even if I don’t succeed every day. And the second difference is, with goals, if I don’t accomplish it I feel like less of a failure, because it was only a goal, and not something that determined the year’s value.
And so, without further ado, my 2009 goals.

Long-term Goals for the year:
Get on a better sleep schedule.
Improve my cooking skills, especially in areas that I don't enjoy.
Find some way of earning income.
Improve my singing ability.

One-time projects:
Finish redecorating the bathroom.
Finish setting up my sewing area.
Finish sewing the shirts Kara, Jess and I began last year.
Get my bookcases organized and neat (this might begin with a post publishing a picture of the very embarrassing condition of my bookcases before and end with a picture of my success... :P )
Begin the skirt I've been wanting to make.

I've been considering these since a little before New Year's, and I've already begun the long-term goals, so I know that I'm serious about wanting to do all these things. Next year we'll see how well I did. :D

~Lizzie

Due to popular demand... pic overload II

2009-01-21T19:48:00.006-05:00

OK. Here are my pics from the snow day. Be grateful, 'cause it took me forever to pick out these from the 500 odd pics from that day, even more forever for them to upload, and a slightly less forever for me rearrange them in the right order. (stupid picture uploader...)

My version of that tree...

I like the "no trespassing' sign. :D

Shadow staking birds. She almost caught one too but Lizzie didn't want her to so she scared it off. :(

....and there y'all go. :D

Picture overload

2009-01-20T18:50:00.018-05:00

Here's a lot of my pictures... I took about 300. Not including when I stole Sarah's camera and took pictures with her nice expensive camera...

Christmas-y... Christmas is complete, now that we've had snow. :)

Pictures just never capture the moment...

Our dirt road, all covered in snow!

Sign at the main road.

I made orange pineapple muffins.

Then went out and took more pictures.

Our neighbor's red barn.

Our neighbor's little pond.

David and I went sledding on the big hill. (Sarah and Joel wouldn't come... don't know why...)

David getting started.

David made a snow angel.

And ate some snow.

The sun started setting.

We drove down a little ways to get some pictures of the lake and the sunset.

And I got some more sunset pictures at our house.

Snow gear drying by the fireplace.

The view from the window in my room.

Sarah got some good pictures too, which she has put on Facebook... I'm trying to get her to put them on the blog too, but once you do one, you don't feel like doing the other...

I had such a great snow day! It was absolutely perfect.

~Lizzie

AHHH! It snowed!

2009-01-20T09:02:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it!! I was completely skeptical. Snow? Yeah, right. But it snowed! Probably because I didn't believe it. And I was so shocked and excited!! I'm going crazy!!!!!!!!! I'll probably post pictures later.

*squeals*

~Lizzie

Slowly but surely...

2009-01-19T16:53:00.002-05:00

I've been raised in a Christian home, and I've been told that I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 4. I don't remember it. I spent most of my childhood trying to be good, but not really with the changed attitude that Jesus brings. I truly became a Christian when I was almost 12. And subconsciously I think I expected an immediate change. I was free from sin, right? So all I had to do was choose not to sin. That should be easy. Not.

I continued striving to do what I knew was right, read my Bible, pray and conform my entire life to what the Bible says. Then somewhere along the way, I realized that it wasn't me that was doing the work. Everything I tried to do because I knew I was supposed to failed, but God was doing good. I was trying to change my actions without changing the heart attitude that caused the actions in the first place, and God was changing my heart so that my actions were also what they were supposed to be. But He's certainly not done with me yet.

I'm not sure if it's supposed to be such a long process, but it has been with me, and I've noticed that many things that take a long time are more steady and lasting. For example, I've been staying up way too late for the past year or so, and I took a lot of that year to get used to going to bed at 12-1am. And I've tried many times to trick myself into going to bed earlier by getting up at 7 no matter how late I went to bed, and then eventually I'd be so tired that I would go to bed earlier, right? Well, it would work for a little while, usually until I got a cold (which got a foothold in my lack of sleep) and then had to get extra rest. Getting back to a good schedule will probably take about a year of consistent work. (Kind of daunting...) But if I do take a whole year, it will be easy to go to bed early, and harder to stay awake late.

So here's to slow consistency.

~Lizzie

The Old Theme is Back!!

2009-01-18T22:17:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Jos, who edited the template so that the pictures were no longer partially transparent! I'm so happy to have my lovely winter theme back.

And today was such a nice day!

~Lizzie

New Theme sniffle

2009-01-17T12:22:00.001-05:00

I liked the old one a lot, and I was going to keep it until the weather warmed up into spring, but alas, I post pictures too often to have a template that makes pictures look weird.

Oh well.

~Lizzie

It's FRIDAY!

2009-01-16T12:26:00.011-05:00

Here comes the weekend! Only, it's still a weekday, and I still have school. :( So this is a random post that I'm doing instead of school. (Don't worry, I'll get around to school eventually.)

This is my current desktop. It's a picture I took last week when we had all that rain... I like that it's focused on the water drops, but you still get the effect of the the clouds and the color of the sky. I didn't mean for it to focus on the window, but I'm very happy that it did.

Here's the rainbow that appeared on the same day. Unfortunately, it's pretty faint. I wonder if all those pictures of sharp, bright rainbows are photoshopped or if some rainbows really do look that way... this was the second rainbow, we saw another one a couple of days earlier, but I couldn't get a good picture. This is actually a double rainbow...

In this picture the rainbow appears to be ending right at our house. Unfortunately, we did not get home and find a pot of gold.

This was later in the evening, Mom and I went out grocery shopping. Still same day. It was a great day for sky pictures. I love clouds, and I really love it when there are rays shooting out from behind dark clouds. This might be my favorite ray picture ever... were it not for the telephone pole and lines. :|

This one makes me think of the Brandon Heath song, "Give Me Your Eyes" specifically the line: "All those people going somewhere, why have I never cared?"

This picture, to me, is really interesting. I see the clouds and the gold representing the beauty of God's creation, the American flag representing the principles that on which our country was originally founded, and the power lines a harsh reminder of what we have become: a technologically crazed and idol-worshipping nation, with leadership trying to separate us and our country as far as possible from God.

Yeah, I realize that sounds kind of cheesy. You could just say that this would be a great picture without the power lines.

And now I'll get off to something productive.

~Lizzie

P.S. So I realized that my theme messes up the pictures... you can click on them and see a big version. Sorry I don't have time to change my theme now, but I'll try to get around to it later.

The obliviousness cloud has cleared...

2009-01-12T15:51:00.004-05:00

I remember when the Northern Wake Tech campus was just a flat expanse of red mud, and Mom was so happy that it would probably open just in time for me to begin dual-enrollment (the year I turned 16). And now, after watching 3 semesters of opportunity for free education pass me by, I've finally come to my senses, only a little late. The late registration deadline for the spring semester is tomorrow. Mom and I went over to Wake Tech today to see if I could get in, and the English class that I wanted to do was completely full.

So now I have the summer classes, fall semester and spring semester before I graduate and have to start paying for classes. I've got a very long list of classes that I was interested in, and hopefully the ones that I was most interested in will fit into this last year (considering prerequisites and all).

And hopefully I will acquire some time management skills... I don't know if it's just a problem that occurs when you get older, or if it's me doing something wrong (like too much computer...? :P) but it seems that 24 hours just isn't enough time for everything I want to do, even if I disregard sleeping and food.

I am pretty excited about these Wake Tech classes now... I'm particularly interested in Cosmetology and Interior Design. So anyway. We'll see if I can get it all in without squeezing out something I'm already doing, like swimming, voice, dance, theater...

~Lizzie

The Sequel to the Vacuum series.

2009-01-09T19:45:00.003-05:00

Introducing: The CD Player of Sauron. My luck with electronics couldn't possibly be worse. Sometimes I think my pride in my Irish heritage gives me opposite luck. Or maybe the person who came up with "the luck o' the Irish" was being sarcastic, 'cause frankly, they don't seem very lucky to me.

So yes, before I explain the problem I will confess that I still own a CD player, despite the advent of iPods and their docks which were supposed to replace CD players, not to mention alarm clocks and decorative sculptures. I will also remind you that I don't own an iPod, (I have a Creative "Zen" MP3 player) which is why I don't own one of those nifty weird-shaped-alarm-clock-iPod-dock things that would make my life complete.

Whenever I listen to CD's in my outdated, miserable CD player, I now have to tolerate hic-up-jumps in the music. They have become so frequent that I really wouldn't have cared if the stupid player would just completely break and stop playing music. I removed the CDs and took the casing off, stripped half the screws, observed nothing fixable, dusted it out (how does dust get in there anyway?) and tried to put the casing back on. I nearly ruined the antenna, but that's okay, because I tried to play a CD (I honestly can't believe it still worked at all) and the hiccuping was worse. So much worse in fact, that I have completely given it up.

Oh, woe is me...

~Lizzie

Inconvenient vanity.

2009-01-03T23:34:00.003-05:00

I got my braces off a little more than two years ago (wow, doesn't seem that long) and I went to the dentist with my newly straightened pearly whites only to have him mention "Now with a little whitening treatment..." Yeah. His sales pitch almost worked. I mean, no way could I afford his "one hour" treatment that was guaranteed to make my teeth blindingly white. But after that I was no longer satisfied. Who wants to have wonderful straight teeth (after two and a half years of pain getting them) and only have everyone notice that they're not-so-perfectly white? I got whitening toothpaste, I brushed with hydrogen peroxide and used a whitening mouth wash. Then I finally caved and spent $20 on a box of white-strips. And yes, even as I'm typing I'm wearing those little pieces of plastic that are guaranteed to make my teeth blindingly white... for a year. And then you need another box. It wouldn't be so bad they were at least comfortable. But they slide all around, the "gel" (which feels like goo) seems to get everywhere BUT on my teeth, and I have to wear them over and over... for the rest of my life? Yet, after having this conversation with myself again and again, here I am, frozen with my tongue in an awkward position, finally having the strips plastered to my teeth in the proper position, waiting for my 30 minutes to be up so I can go throw the strips out, rinse, and examine my teeth for any signs of hygienic whiteness.

~Lizzie

Mice, ideas and new-found goodies.

2009-01-03T19:26:00.007-05:00

I think I will go in reverse order of the title so that thoughts of the rodent and the idea won't obscure the yumminess of the cream cheese brownies I've discovered. No, I'm not taking credit for the recipe, only for finding it on the internet. :P

Here's the recipe from one of my favorite recipe sites, "Joy of Baking" - Cream Cheese Brownies (link). Theirs look better than mine I think, but I can never get my food to look like a piece of art. That's Sarah's specialty. I've made three batches of these brownies so far, and the first time they came out of the pan very well without the aluminum foil (we try not to use aluminum foil in baking because it cooks into the food); I just buttered it very well. For some reason though, the second two batches didn't work out so well. They stuck pretty badly. I'm blaming it on the strange sugar I had to use. It refused to dissolve and made the batter very wet and sticky. We've really enjoyed these brownies though (even the sticky ones with crunchy sugar). This is the first time I've made something where I ask if anyone wants some and even my parents say "Yes!" with hopeful eagerness.

And as for my idea, I've been thinking about doing a review blog. I really enjoy reviewing books and movies, and I get criticized for posting my reviews on my own blog, so I figured if I start a blog for that purpose it'll be better accepted. And then, if it ever happens to be big enough that it could actually be a job (with which I could somehow extract money from people), that would be nice. Probably not though, with the current economy. So anyway, I will be thinking on that. And if anyone is interested in being a writer, just send me a sample review. ;)

I hate mice. It's like my cat knows this and intentionally catches and brings into the house more mice than is natural for any cat. She even takes up the slack for our other two cats who are remarkably less interested in small animals. She doesn't look malicious, does she?

*sigh* So just a few minutes ago she came inside a dropped a mouse and then went back outside. We have our broom/trashcan/scream method all worked out. Except this time we were trying to decide if we should let Shadow (the kitty with kidney problems) have a fresh... treat. *gag* And Mom was holding the broom on top of him while we tried to decide to sweep him into the trashcan or somehow let Shadow eat him without him running all over the house... and decided on the the trashcan, but apparently the mouse had already smothered. *shudder* *cough* *shudder*

*grimace* So... I can't leave you with that... ... I bought a new purse today.

It was on sale, and I just couldn't resist. I really like it. :P

~Lizzie

Well, I was going to call this....

2009-01-01T14:50:00.003-05:00

something about the obligatory New Year post, but then I realized that that's Daddy's most recent title. So now I have the beginning of the sentence as my title, which is infinitely more boring, but whatever.

I was sincerely touched by all the tearful farewells on my leaving post. It's so nice to know I was missed. I must contribute so much with my half-unreadable posts and unnecessarily lengthy words. The people on Facebook were equally distressed by my absence. :P

I actually have a whole bunch of posts that I wrote while I was off, but I'm not sure if I'm going to post them or not. *glances expectantly over crowd of readers* *readers respond with thunderous silence* I guess I won't.

Well, if you're still reading, you're now going to get a summary of what I learned from 2008, so this is your chance to run. The exits are located to the top right, top left and top center of this page. They are not lit with bright red "Exit" signs, so proceed with caution. Beware the hole in the floor.

Okay, now I'll be serious. To be honest, 2008 wasn't a great year for me. I spent most of the year in chronic depression and confusion. My faith in God was challenged, everything that made my world secure seemed to crumble, and most of my memories have to do with the most complete sadness I've ever felt. And it seems silly for me to say this, because no one I knew died. Not even our little cat (who had kidney failure). There was really nothing awful; technically I should have had a great year.

It's hard for me to say if it was just my attitude, or if it was maybe some sort of spiritual attack, but whichever it was, I learned a lot of things that made this one of the most meaningful years of my life so far, even if it wasn't packed with fun and pleasure. My faith was challenged, but now it's stronger, I am closer to God for the loss of my worldly security, and through the sadness, God has given my His joy.

I guess I'm finally escaping the horrible teenage years. I'll be 18 this summer, legally an adult, but not able to drink, and older than I've ever been before. I'm going to graduate, but not legally... don't worry, I'll graduate legally next year. I just decided that since I'll finish out this school year 17, that I may as well do another year and graduate at 18 (but then I'll be almost 19...) Yes, it's confusing. If you don't get it, please don't read that paragraph again.

Happy New Year everyone!

~Lizzie

ilazy-blog

2008-12-26T14:46:00.007-05:00

So I did this on Facebook, then I saw Jessica did it on her blog..... so why not?? :D This is sooo my type of blogging. ;)

Step 1: Put your iPod on shuffle

Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play no matter how embarrassing
Step 3: Bold over the songs that someone guesses correctly
Step 4: Looking up the lyrics on any search engine is totally cheating and that's not cool. (I trust you guys. :P)

1. She turns like the ocean she tells no emotion

2. Stoplights breakdown we cry last try worlds collide time to decide

3. Ill-M-I, Ill-M-I, Ill-M-I, Ill-M-I and you Illuminati comin' thru - I'll-M-I - tobyMac

4. There's a fracture in the color bar in the back seat of a parked car

5. She never slows down she doesn't know why but - Stand in the Rain - Superchic[k]

6. When he was seeing her you could see he had his doubts

7. I walked the line leave it all behind I've been waiting forever - Everything You Ever Wanted - Hawk Nelson

8. If weakness is a wound that no one wants to speak of then "cool" is just how far we have to fall - I'm not Alright - Sanctus Real

9. I'm a brand new man, I'm a conscious man I'm a man who's burnin' for you - Burn for you - tobyMac

10. I just wasted ten seconds of your life - Crayons can Melt on Us for all I Care - Relient K

11. I found You in the most unlikely way really it was You who found me - Remembering You - Steven Curtis Chapman

12. I know you keep a journal and every page in rippled - Atmosphere - tobyMac

13. Rain falls outside I think the sky must know whats happening tonight

14. Everyone I know needs love like drugs

15. There's a cross on the side of the road where a mother lost a son - We Live - Superchic[k]

16. You got me feeling so fly there ain't a day that goes by - Feelin' so Fly - tobyMac

17. I'm as eloquent as an elephant I'm as headstrong as the Mighty King Kong - Eloquent - Sanctus Real

18. You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times

19. I hope it snows this week, a snow flake on your cheek

20. I made you promises a thousand times, I tried to hear from heaven

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

2008-12-20T20:50:00.004-05:00

*happy sigh* I love that part of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. And only that part. But don't worry, this isn't another review post.

I'm actually saying that I'm taking a break from blogging until the New Year. So Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year!! See you in 2009!! Ahhhh!!!

~Lizzie

MI2

2008-12-18T20:48:00.006-05:00

Well, Jessica, I think you would have liked Tom Cruise's hair. It was kinda long, and very shiny and swishy.

Mission Impossible 2 was ridiculous. Note to self: when Daddy says a movie is awful, it really is. However, the reverse is not always true... think 2001 Space Odyssey. If you haven't seen it, DON'T!

I don't think it's even worth going through everything that was lame about MI2. It was a good movie to watch in the middle of the night when you're exhausted. Just be sure that there's someone really hyper to wake you up for the action parts.

And if anyone has seen it, we should do a spoof where everyone attempts to rip a mask off of everyone else's faces before they speak. It's like, the secret handshake. Directions: grab cheek or hair and pull. But don't pull too hard, in case it isn't a mask.

~Lizzie

Random Discovery

2008-12-15T18:07:00.005-05:00

I was reading Emily's blog the other day, and then I checked out all the links in her blog list, and found this guy's blog. I thought he was hilarious, so I checked to see if he had any other blogs and I found this. I think he's absolutely hilarious, but I have no idea who he is, so I've been hesitant to put a link in my sidebar. Sarah convinced me that I should though. So there it is.

~Lizzie

Prince Caspian, Take Two.

2008-12-14T21:20:00.005-05:00

So we bought the DVD. (Couldn't resist.) And just watched it again. First of all, the cover is making me sick. It looks so Disney. Sarah even pointed out a sprinkling pixie dust. HOW is that related???

So, with the second watching I've already resigned myself to the fact that they ruined almost everything. (For a more complete review, you may check back to my original post: Prince Caspian) But this time I was actually a little more annoyed with it. I remembered liking Ben Barnes' (Caspian) acting, but this time it struck me as lame. Sometimes he's okay, sometimes... not. And I noticed several phrases from the Pevensies that seemed too modern even for London in the early 1900's, and especially for Narnia.

My disgust and abhorrence for Caspian and Susan's romance has only increased. But now I think more that Caspian doesn't deserve Ramandu's daughter. He and Susan are perfect for each other. Too bad he can't go back to London with her and be replaced by a cooler Caspian who can act.

They've dumbed it down til it's just like all the other greasy cheeseball Disney movies. As a matter of fact, I gagged over so many of the lines this second time that I saw it that it almost equaled High School Musical for gag-worthiness. It's all Andrew Adamson's fault. I despised and loathed Shrek so completely and instantaneously that I didn't even finish watching it. And THAT was the man honored with the responsibility of taking a literary work of art like Narnia and making it a movie? Ah, my feelings require an overly cheesy and dramatic exclamation... "Narnia is about to be annihilated!" *sobs*

Thank goodness for Michael Apted! I'm hoping and almost praying that Voyage of the Dawn Treader will manage to overcome the reputation of its precedors and be more than just another slimy, idiotic Disney movie.

Sarah and I watched the credits. Please don't ask me why, we usually watch the credits in movie theaters, and we watched the credits tonight. Anyway, I noticed some very amusing titles that people were credited with. For example: "2nd 2nd assistant director." Yes, that's two "2nd's." And: "'a' camera 2nd assistant camera." Others were prop-buyers, "2nd payroll assistant" and chaperones. All listed in the credits. Oh, and they also mentioned that the piano used for that production was a Steinway maintained by Steinway and Sons, London. Which I thought was cool. Apparently they actually had a piano... for the music recording I guess. I should watch the credits again and see who the artist was that played the piano.

And now I will avoid watching Prince Caspian.

~Lizzie

Forwards!

2008-12-11T11:06:00.005-05:00

This is a "thank-you" email I just received in response to all those "URGENT!!" forwards that get sent around. (I am proud to report that I don't forward them on.)

"I just want to thank all of you for your educational e-mails over the past year. I am totally screwed up now and have little chance of recovery.

I no longer open a public bathroom door without using a paper towel.

Or have them put lemon slices in my ice water without worrying about the bacteria on the lemon peel.

I can't use the remote in a hotel room because I don't know what the last person was doing while flipping through the movie channels.

Nor can I sit down on the hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has happened on it since it was last washed.

I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been driving because the number one pastime while driving alone is picking one's nose.

Eating a little snack sends me on a guilt trip because I can only imagine how many gallons of Trans fats I have consumed over the years.

I can't touch any woman's purse for fear she has placed it on the floor of a public bathroom.

I must send my special thanks to whoever sent me the one about poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I won't touch margarine, as it is just one molecule away from being plastic.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains, nor do I drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put 'Under God' on their cans.

I can no longer buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face, disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

Neither will I go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fed Ex since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I won't shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

I can 't do any gardening because I'm afraid I'll get bitten by the brown recluse and my hand will fall off.

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 14,000 people in the next 14 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM tomorrow afternoon and the fleas from 1,000 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician...

Have a wonderful day....

Oh, by the way, a German scientist from Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late."

~Lizzie

Caroling and Cold Cider

2008-12-10T22:10:00.003-05:00

Despite my visions of shotguns and dogs that merit more than a "beware of dog" sign, I actually set off caroling with our group with high spirits. Yes, it felt like summer, and it felt kinda strange, like maybe we were over-obsessed Christmas-in-July carolers. But it was fun, and there were no shotguns, although there were people peeking out windows and then ignoring us. For them we have an altered version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".....

It was great fun until it began to rain. It sprinkled, and then when we started singing it would pour, and then we would head back to the clubhouse, so it would go back to just a mist, and then we would decide to keep going since it stopped raining and then it would start pouring again. We finally gave up and went back to the clubhouse very damp. We were hoping for some hot cider, but we didn't spend enough time caroling, so it was in the crock-pot, not-so-warm.

We had some dessert and barely warm cider, prayed a few minutes and then went home to get into dry clothes. It really was fun, and I hope we'll do it again next week... hopefully without rain.

The games yesterday were really fun, all the way in Greensboro. We spent about 4 hours driving. And we have to go almost all the way back for the games Friday...

Tomorrow is our swim meet with NRCA, Cary Christian and Grace Christian. And Sarah's band concert. It's going to be crazy, and I just hope that the meet is over soon enough that we'll see some of the concert. I'm terrified that we're going to miss the whole thing, and I so want to see it.

~Lizzie

Yum!!

2008-12-07T15:12:00.004-05:00

I made Natalie's Cinnamon Breakfast Bisuits for a snack this afternoon. I didn't use the plastic bag to put the icing on, and I think that might have made the icing look a little neater, but who cares if they taste really good anyway? Still, I'm going to try the plastic bag next time. :D

Here's a picture at 3:00...

And here's a picture at 3:05.